Boys  and  Men 

A  Story  of  Life  at  Tale  • 

BY 

RICHARD   HOLBROOK 

I 


NEW  YORK 
CHARLES   SCRIBNER'S   SONS 

1900 


i 


Copyright,  1900 
BY  CHARLES  SCRIBNER'S  SONS 


UNIVERSITY     PRESS       •      JOHN    WILSON 
AND     SON      •      CAMBRIDGE,     U.S.A. 


ro 

MY   MOTHER 


282113 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 

I.    THE  MERRYMAKERS 1 

II.    THE  GOURMETS  —  ALSO  BUDSON 20 

III.    A  RIOT 32 

IV.    HIGHER  THINGS 42 

V.    TOIL  AND  POLITICS        51 

VI.    JACK  WRITES  A  LETTER 57 

VII.    EXODUS :     .     .     .     .  62 

VIII.    DESMOND .     .  66 

IX.    Two  POINTS  OF  VIEW 74 

X.    A  COWARD'S  HONOUR 79 

XL    INTO  THE  WORLD 84 

XII.    MARGARET  GLENN 98 

XIII.  WHEN  FRIENDS  FALL  OUT 106 

XIV.  THE  TEMPLE  BAR 114 

XV.    THE  FENCE 120 

XVI.    TORCH  AND  COWL 124 

XVH.    AT  TURN  OF  TIDE 128 

XVIII.    AFFINITIES 131 

XIX.    CONFESSIONS 141 

XX.    JACK'S  LIMITATIONS 147 

XXI.  A  TEST   .  153 


CONTENTS 

PAQJ 

XXII.    ON  THE  VERGE 15; 

XXIII.  A  FOUR-LEAVED  CLOVER 165 

XXIV.  AFTER  THE  BATTLE 174 

XXV.    THE  PARTING  OF  THE  WAYS 18£ 

XXVI.    THE  BAUBLE  FAME 21$ 

XXVII.    LOVE  AND  GLOOM 226 

XXVIII.    ON  THE  RAILWAY 24£ 

XXIX.    WHEN  STORMS  ARISE .     .  24£ 

XXX.    THE  POINT  OF  HONOUR 256 

XXXI.   REPARATION 274 


Vlll 


BOYS   AND    MEN 


BOYS  AND   MEN 


THE  MERRYMAKERS 

"  T  TELLO!      Anybody   at  home?     Are   you   in, 

11  Jack  ?  "  Billy  pushed  the  door  of  162  Far- 
nam  as  wide  open  as  it  would  go,  and  looked  in. 
"What  are  you  doing?" 

"Ploughing,"  returned  Jack,  placidly,  as  he  thrust 
head  and  shoulders  into  a  yawning  trunk.  "  When 
did  you  arrive,  William  ?  " 

"Oh!  lately.     Can  I  come  in?" 

"  You  can  if  you  can,"  observed  Jack.  "  How  is 
the  boy,  Billy?" 

"Me?     Sound,  thanks." 

"  I  am  glad  to  hear  it.  Climb  in  and  help  me.  Be 
useful.  Got  any  conditions  ?  " 

"Don't  speak  of  it.  Hang  them!  Yes,  four. 
Mathematics,  mathematics,  mathematics,  and  mathe 
matics  ! " 

Jack  grinned.  "  You  're  a  proud  scholar,  Bill,  but 
it 's  pleasant  to  see  you  with  such  a  summery  expres 
sion  on  your  young  phiz." 

The  two  boys  (or  men,  as  the  last-born  freshman 
will  call  himself)  shook  hands  vigorously,  with  the 
i  1 


:BOYH  AND  MEN 

air  of  renewing  an  old-time  comradeship.  William 
James,  a  dark-haired,  dark-eyed  stripling  of  eighteen, 
a  hand's-breadth  under  the  ordinary  height,  was  one  ; 
the  other  was  John  Eldredge. 

"How  do  you  like  my  room?"  asked  Jack,  as  he 
resumed  his  diving  into  the  baggage  that  lay  strewn 
upon  the  floor. 

"It's  pretty  high,"  mused  James. 

"  But  the  price  is  n't,  and  if  you  insist  I  '11  have  an 
elevator  put  in  for  you.  Look  out  of  the  window ! 
Is  n't  that  nice  ?  Gaze  at  the  churches  on  the  Green, 
and  the  City  Hall,  and  the  street,  and  the  grass  and 
things,  — all  for  three  dollars  and  fifty  cents  a  week." 

As  he  talked,  Eldredge  continued  to  unload  his 
trunk,  now  spreading  some  precious  garment  on  the 
dirty  floor,  now  shying  deftly  a  pair  of  boots  into  far 
ther  parts.  James  had  discovered  a  guitar  amongst 
the  litter,  and  was  mangling  a  tune.  He  sat  on  the 
high  window-seat  with  one  leg  thrown  over  the  other, 
and  his  right  foot  braced  against  the  casing. 

"Where 's  your  wife,  Jack  ?  " 

"Joseph?  Oh,  I  don't  know.  Nosing  around 
down  town,  maybe.  He  saw  an  antique  table  this 
morning,  —  something  with  six  legs,  a  sort  of  centi 
pede  in  the  furniture  line.  Probably  he 's  trying  to 
buy  it  in.  Joe  is  no  small  potatoes  as  an  antiquary, 
you  know.  He 's  a  connossoor." 

"  A  what  ?  " 

"  A  connossoor." 

"  Oh,  sure.  I  did  n't  catch  on  at  first.  Joe's 
guitar  was  making  too  much  noise.  When '11  he 
be  back?" 

2 


THE  MERRYMAKERS 

"  'Most  any  time.     Where  are  you  staying,  Bill  ?  " 

"  At  a  very  good  place,"  responded  James.  "  The 
landlady  is  a  friend  of  a  chap  who  had  a  friend  there 
last  year.  She  says  she  always  tries  to  make  her 
house  seem  just  like  a  home.  My  window  looks  out 
on  a  lumber  yard.  There  's  a  brass  bedstead  and  a 
hair-sofa  in  the  bedroom.  Mrs.  Jones  thinks  I  '11  be 
veiy  cosey." 

Eldredge  smiled  a  little  and  yawned.  There  was  a 
tap  at  the  door,  and  a  thick  voice  mumbled  something 
unintelligible.  In  the  doorway  stood  a  short  negro 
with  sloping  shoulders  and  arms  long  as  those  of  his 
distant  cousin  in  the  African  woods.  On  his  head, 
or,  rather,  over  that  all  but  intelligent  receptacle, 
rested  a  derby  so  large  that  it  seemed  to  repose  upon 
his  protruding  ears.  In  his  buttonhole  was  fastened 
a  white  porcelain  disk,  on  which  was  inscribed  in  red 
letters  "  One  of  the  400."  The  man  had  appeared  so 
suddenly  as  to  seem  like  some  grotesque  apparition. 
James  looked  out  of  the  window  for  an  instant. 
Eldredge  said,  "What  will  you  have?" 

"  Ah  yo'  Mr.  El'redge  ?  "  asked  the  darky,  doubt 
fully. 

"  Yes,"  he  answered.    *'  Do  you  want  something  ?  " 

"  Yessir.  I  fought  mebbe  you  had  n't  given  de 
job  o'  keepin'  dis  room  to  anybody  else,  and  dat  I 
might  as  well  ask  fo'  it  myself,  f  done  swep'  yere 
goin'  on  twenty  yea's.  De  las'  man  I  worked  fo'  wuz 
Mr.  Lee.  He  done  gradyeated." 

"  How  much  do  you  want?  "  asked  Jack. 

"  I  mos'  gen'ly  gets  two  dollahs  a  week.  You  spect 
me  to  shine  shoes  ?  " 


BOYS  AND   MEN 

"  I  want  you  to  keep  everything  clean.  What  is 
your  name,  please?" 

"  Mistah  Jackson."     (This  in  a  double  bass.) 

"  Is  your  first  name  Andrew  ?  "  asked  Eldredge, 
with  dignity. 

"  Yessir,"  replied  the  man,  somewhat  puzzled. 

"Very  well,"  said  Eldredge,  "you  might  begin  by 
putting  away  everything  that 's  on  the  floor." 

"  Does  all  dat  belong  to  you  ? "  asked  the  darky. 
Without  waiting  for  a  reply,  he  set  slowly  about  do 
ing  as  he  was  bidden.  Suddenly  he  stopped.  "  Some 
body  's  callin'  me,"  he  said.  "  Dat  sounds  like  Mr. 
White."  Dropping  an  armful  of  apparel,  he  went  to 
the  door  and  listened. 

"  Oh,  An'rew  Jackson ! "  came  a  voice  from  below. 
"  Where  you  done  hide  ma  duster  ?  "  The  sight  of 
that  implement  sticking  from  Andrew's  rear  pocket 
like  a  misplaced  tail  was  strange  enough.  Had  he 
unwittingly  wagged  it,  the  men  might  have  laughed. 
For  a  moment  the  fellow  stood  dubiously  scratching 
his  woolly  head.  "  I  guess  I  mus'  a  lef  it  down  in 
de  secon'  entry,"  said  he,  and  was  off  without  further 
consideration. 

"Useful  article,"  remarked  James,  chuckling. 
"  Oh !  he 's  a  peach,  dyed  in  the  wool." 

"  Suppose,"  said  Eldredge,  "  that  instead  of  abusing 
that  guitar  you  get  off  that  perch  and  do  a  little 
work." 

With  an  animation  as  great  as  his  sloth,  James 
flopped  off  the  window-seat,  and  fell  to  the  task 
with  such  energy  that  the  disorderly  pile  had  all 
but  disappeared  when  there  came  a  timid  knock  at 

4 


THE   MERRYMAKERS 

the  open  door,  and,  looking  up,  the  men  beheld  a 
new  visitor. 

Before  them  stood  a  personage  whose  voluminously 
uncertain  figure  was  clad  in  a  gown  of  purple  calico. 
With  a  folded  newspaper  she  fanned  her  perspiring 
face,  and,  having  caught  her  breath,  presented  herself 
in  these  simple  terms :  "  Well,  by  grashis,  't  is  very 
hot  to  be  climbin'  three  pair  o'  stairs.  'T  is  a  warrum 
day  to-day." 

After  a  short  pause,  during  which  she  gazed  at  the 
new-comer's  things  in  a  friendly  way,  she  wiped  the 
moisture  off  her  forehead  and  resumed : 

"  Arr  you  the  gintleman  that  lives  here?"  said  she 
to  Jack. 

"Yes,  I  live  here.     Would  you  like  to  see  me?" 

"  Well,  I  guess  I  do,"  she  went  on  blandly,  "  if  ye 
have  n't  put  out  yer  wash  to  some  other  lady."  Then, 
in  a  tone  of  commendation,  "  I  washed  alriddy  four 
years  fer  Mr.  Eddy." 

"  Very  well ;  you  '11  find  what  there  is  in  the  cor 
ner.  Will  you  write  your  name  and  where  you  live 
on  this  bit  of  paper?" 

"  Mamie !  "  cried  the  woman.  At  the  summons 
there  sidled  into  the  room  a  small  girl,  wagging  her 
head  and  blushing  coyly.  She  stood  gawkishly 
awaiting  further  instruction. 

"  What  do  you  want,  mama  ?  "  she  faltered. 

"  Put  me  name  on  the  payper." 

"  Oh,  is  that  all  you  want  ?  "  said  the  girl,  and, 
taking  from  Eldredge  the  slip  of  paper,  she  labori 
ously  scrawled  the  words  "Miss  Mamie  McCann." 
Her  mother,  who  had  now  gathered  up  her  bundle, 

5 


BOYS   AND   MEN 

bowed  benignantly  to  each  of  the  men,  and  floated 
out.  On  reaching  the  hall  she  turned  to  say  "  Good- 
day  ;  "  her  offspring  blushed  once  more,  and  both  de 
parted.  The  pair  had  not  long  been  gone  when  there 
came  another  visitor.  He  rapped  firmly,  like  an  old 
acquaintance. 

"  Come  in !  "  cried  Jack,  and  there  entered  a  youth 
of  about  two-and-twenty.  His  look  was  infinitely 
callow,  and  there  was  something  cheeky  in  the  very 
hair  which  curled  in  golden  waves  about  his  temples. 
Mr.  Edwin  Budson  introduced  himself  like  a  long- 
lost  friend.  "  Delighted  to  make  your  acquaintance," 
said  he.  "Are  you  men  camped  here?  I'm  right 
across  the  hall." 

"  Are  you  ? "  queried  James,  with  a  shade  of 
impudence. 

"  Well,  just  for  the  present,"  he  answered,  "  but  I 
can  tell  you  that  I  don't  intend  to  stay  there  forever. 
Every  year  a  fellow  moves  into  a  sweller  place. 
That's  done  by  lot,  you  know.  Mr.  Hitchcock 
'tends  to  all  that.  Have  you  met  him?" 

"  No.  I  have  only  been  here  a  couple  of  hours, 
and  have  n't  had  time,"  replied  Jack. 

"Well,  you  just  want  to  keep  on  the  soft  side  of 
Mr.  Hitchcock,  you  bet!  He  runs  the  whole  busi 
ness.  By  the  way,  I  neglected  to  ask  your  names." 

"  My  name  is  Eldredge,"  said  Jack. 

"  And  mine  is  James  —  W.  James,"  said  Billy, 
cautiously. 

"  Well,  mine  's  Budson.  You  '11  find  my  card 
tacked  on  the  door.  That's  the  proper  caper  here. 
You  fellows  are  chums,  are  n't  you  ?  " 

6 


THE   MERRYMAKERS 

"If  you  mean  that  we  both  inhabit  this  room," 
said  Billy,  "  we  are  not ;  if  you  mean  that  Mr. 
Eldredge  is  my  friend,  he  is." 

44  May  I  ask  which  of  you  lives  here  ?  " 

"  I  do,"  replied  Eldredge. 

"  In  that  case  I  judge  that  you  don't." 

"  No,  I  don't ;  I  live  a  long  way  off,  but  the  name 
of  the  street  has  completely  slipped  out  of  my  mind." 

"  Perhaps  we  might  strike  a  bargain  then,  James." 

"  How  is  that,  Mr.  Budson?" 

"Look  here,"  said  Budson,  "read  that;"  and  he 
handed  James  a  telegram. 

Billy  read : 

Regret  to  say  have  flunked  again  everything  except 
Roman  History.  Sorry  to  have  missed  you.  Have 
decided  to  go  into  business.  H.  BOSLET. 

"Too  bad,  is  n't  it?"  said  Budson.  "Bos  is  a 
good  all-around  practical  man.  I  've  known  him  for 
years,  and  I  tell  you  I  am  somewhat  disappointed. 
He  will  be  a  loss  to  the  University.  Well,  there  's 
no  use  in  crying  over  spilt  milk,  so  I  suppose  I  shall 
have  to  do  the  next  best  thing.  How  would  you  like 
to  take  Bosley's  place,  Mr.  James?  Fine  room, 
you  know ;  looks  out  on  the  Campus.  You  can  see 
everything  that  goes  on,  and  it 's  dirt  cheap.  We 
can  easily  fix  it  up  with  Hitchcock." 

"  You  'd  better  take  Mr.  Budson  up  on  that," 
remarked  Jack,  placidly.  "  Such  chances  come  only 
once  in  a  long  while." 

But  Billy  declared  he  was  sorry  —  that  a  previous 
engagement  made  it  impossible  —  indeed,  he  had 

7 


BOYS   AND   MEN 

got  into  the  clutches  of  a  landlady,  and  was  n't  sure 
she  would  let  him  go  even  at  the  end  of  the  year. 

"  However,  I  tell  you  what  I  '11  do,  Budson ;  I  ran 
across  a  man  this  morning  who  would  help  make  a 
congenial  crowd  in  this  entry." 

With  a  reassuring  glance  in  Jack's  direction,  Billy 
continued  :  "  I  '11  just  look  that  fellow  up  and  send 
him  around.  He  would  jump  at  the  chance." 

"Thanks,  ever  so  much,  old  man,"  said  Budson. 
"  Well,  good-day,  gentlemen.  Drop  in  any  time  — 
161,  across  the  hall  —  card  is  on  the  door." 

"Say,  Billy,"  said  Eldredge,  "you  aren't  putting 
up  a  game  at  my  expense,  are  you  ?  " 

"  Of  course  not,  but  I  know  a  man  that  will  man 
age  that  fellow,  —  a  wild  Westerner  from  Arizona. 
I  took  breakfast  with  him  this  morning.  He  is  years 
older  than  you  or  I,  and  looks  as  if  he  meant  business. 
You  fellows  will  like  him,  and  he  's  probably  run  up 
against  stranger  things  than  Budson." 

Suddenly  there  was  a  clatter  of  heavy  feet  coming 
up  the  stairs  three  steps  at  a  time,  a  whack  on  the 
door,  which  flew  open  before  any  one  said,  "  Come 
in ; "  and  four  Andover  boys  were  shaking  hands  with 
Jack  and  Billy,  and  offering  their  congratulations  on 
the  appearance  of  the  room,  which  was  declared  to 
be  a  "  daisy."  Then  they  all  posted  off  to  a  restau 
rant  which  one  of  the  crowd  believed  to  be  a  fresh 
man  "joint."  The  place  was  already  almost  full, 
and  everybody  seemed  to  be  making  acquaintance 
with  every  one  else,  which  is  a  matter  of  course  at 
Yale  during  the  first  days  before  a  man  has  had  a 
chance  to  choose  his  friends.  James  found  his  Ari- 

8 


THE  MERRYMAKERS 

zona  man  somewhere  in  the  crowd,  and  introduced 
him  all  around  as  "  My  friend  Tarbell."  Then  Jack 
spied  his  room-mate,  Joe  Glenn,  and  the  whole  party 
sat  down  at  one  table.  There  was  a  terrific  din,  but 
no  ladies  were  present,  and  the  waiters  seemed  used 
to  it.  Occasionally  a  tureen  landed  with  the  soup  on 
the  under  side,  or  somebody's  chicken  changed  places 
with  somebody's  lobster,  but  in  a  scramble  like  that 
you  swallow  what  you  get,  and  pay  what  the  waiter 
puts  on  your  bill. 

44  Look  !  There  's  Budson !  "  cried  James.  "  Good 
heavens !  I  wonder  if  there  is  any  one  that  man 
does  n't  know !  Oh,  Budson !  I  say !  Budson  !  Come 
over ! " 

Budson  tore  himself  away  with  a  "  Sorry,  old 
man  —  I  Ve  got  some  friends  over  yonder.  I 
may  be  back  presently."  He  had  donned  a  blue 
sweater  and  some  other  warlike  togs. 

Budson  awaited  no  presentation.  He  was  one  of 
those  people  who  in  ten  minutes  would  slap  any  royal 
duke  upon  the  back  and  call  him  "  Old  man,"  or 
some  other  endearing  name,  just  to  show  how  much 
he  liked  him.  However,  James  said,  "Budson, — 
Mr.  Tarbell."  Tarbell  offered  Budson  his  hand  in  a 
very  dignified  way ;  Budson  shook  it  eagerly,  his  eyes 
sparkling  with  cordiality. 

44  Ah,  delighted  to  meet  you,  Mr.  Tarbell !  I  hear 
you  're  from  Arizona.  Great  place,  is  n't  it  ?  I  had 
an  uncle  out  there  two  years  ago,  — P.  G.  Budson. 
Maybe  you  know  him  ?  He  's  a  bully  chap.  Owns 
a  mine  or  so.  Well,  how  do  you  like  this  ?  Great 
place,  is  n't  it  ?  I  tell  you,  if  a  man  has  any  stuff  in 

9 


BOYS  AND   MEN 

him,  Yale  is  the  place  to  bring  it  out.  By  the  way, 
Tarbell,  my  room-mate  has  gone  back  on  me  at  the 
last  instant.  Too  bad !  Bosley  was  an  all-around 
good  man.  He  would  have  made  a  great  hit  here." 
Budson  drew  up  a  chair  close  to  Tarbell,  and  asked 
him  how  he  would  like  Bosley's  place.  Evidently 
the  Western  man  felt  quite  capable  of  looking  out  for 
himself,  and,  having  knocked  about  town  all  day 
with  no  finds  to  suit  his  purse,  he  informed  Budson 
that  he  would  accept  if  he  could  get  permission  of 
the  Dean.  For  that  night,  at  all  events,  he  would 
share  the  room. 

The  hubbub  that  had  momentarily  succumbed  to 
food  now  began  again.  Suddenly  a  huge  fellow 
stepped  on  a  chair  and  said,  "  Gentlemen  !  "  in  a 
deep  bass  that  made  every  one  look  his  way.  "  Gen 
tlemen  !  "  said  this  self-appointed  herald,  "  there  is 
to  be  a  great  game  this  evening,  —  wrestling  and 
other  '  stunts  '  —  the  sophomores  may  c  rush  '  us,  so 
every  man  ought  to  be  there." 

"  That 's  why  I  put  on  this  sweater,"  said  Budson. 

Presently  every  one  was  hurrying  into  the  street, 
crying,  "  '95,  this  way !  '95,  this  way !  "  As  the 
column  marched,  others  joined.  Some  had  put  on 
canvas  jackets ;  most  were  hatless,  though  there  fell 
a  drizzling  rain.  The  ranks  grew  more  serried,  and, 
as  they  neared  the  scene  of  combat,  they  were  inarch 
ing  three  by  three.  The  big  man  with  the  bass  voice 
was  leading.  In  one  hand  (he  had  no  other)  he  held 
a  small  blue  banner  with  a  white  '95  upon  it.  From 
time  to  time  he  would  face  his  advancing  host  and 
roar  like  a  bull :  "  Keep  close,  '95,  —  column  right, 

10 


THE  MERRYMAKERS 

—  this  way ! "  and  everybody  in  the  small  army 
shouted  "  Right !  "  or  "  Left  !  "  according  to  which 
foot  he  happened  to  have  foremost.  The  huge  man 
with  the  tiny  banner  walked  now  backwards,  now 
forwards,  and  his  recruits  followed  him  as  sponta 
neously  as  sheep  follow  the  biggest  ram.  Some  had 
reefed  their  trousers  to  the  very  knees,  some  had 
donned  their  football  jeans,  some  wore  rubber  boots ; 
but  they  all  splashed  carelessly  through  New 
Haven's  infinitely  and  ever  dirty  streets.  This 
Coxey  army,  this  veritable  rabble,  filed  into  an  open 
lot  in  which  another  crowd  had  already  gathered.  A 
great  circle  was  formed,  near  the  middle  of  which 
flamed  a  small  bonfire.  Those  in  the  front  row 
squatted  or  knelt.  The  sophomores  were  yelling  in 
chorus,  "  Oh,  Freshmen,  bring  out  your  man  !  " 

Presently  a  senior,  who  seemed  to  have  been  chosen 
umpire,  stepped  into  the  ring.  "  The  first  event  of 
the  evening,"  he  announced,  with  the  approved  pro 
fessional  drawl,  "  will  be  a  wrestling  match  between 
featherweights.  Owing  to  the  weather,  the  perform 
ance  will  be  limited  to  one  bout  for  each  pair.  '94, 
bring  out  your  man  !  " 

A  wiry  little  fellow  came  forward  and  stood  wait 
ing  in  a  Napoleonic  attitude.  The  freshman  cham 
pion  did  not  appear. 

"  Come ! "  shouted  some  facetious  sophomore, 
"  there  must  be  lots  of  featherweights  in  your  class. 
Trot 'em  out!" 

Another  little  man  emerged  from  nowhere  in  par 
ticular  ;  the  umpire  said,  "  Time !  "  and  they  were 
at  it  furiously. 

11 


BOYS  AND   MEN 

First  they  danced  about  like  two  gamecocks  ;  then 
there  was  a  dash,  and  one  seemed  to  pass  right 
through  the  other.  The  upper  classmen  jeered  and 
the  champions  rushed  again.  This  time  they  grappled 
and  went  rolling  around,  until  of  a  sudden  the  fresh 
man  stood  on  his  head  and  in  another  second  came 
down  flat  on  his  back. 

"  Featherweight  goes  to  '94,"  said  the  umpire. 
The  sophomores  cheered  and  patted  their  champion 
on  his  sweaty  back. 

"  The  next  event  of  the  evening,"  announced  the 
umpire,  "  will  be  middleweight  wrestling." 

Again  a  sophomore  strode  very  promptly  into  the 
arena.  Some  sophomoric  joker  cried  out :  "  Be  easy 
with  him,  Jonesy.  His  bones  are  young  and  delicate." 

This  time  the  freshmen  delayed;  they  seemed  to 
have  settled  on  no  man.  Their  adversaries  began 
shouting,  "  Oh,  Freshmen,  let 's  have  Edwin  Budson ! 
Come,  Edwin,  brace  up,  old  man  ! " 

"  Shall  I  go?  "  said  Budson  to  his  neighbours. 

Before  he  could  master  his  hesitation  some  one  else 
stepped  forward,  and  the  tussle  began.  The  wrest 
lers  sprang  at  each  other  —  slapped  each  other's  ribs 
in  the  effort  to  get  a  hold  —  dodged  —  grappled  — 
broke  away  —  but,  all  at  once,  the  freshman  caught 
his  opponent  fairly  about  the  thighs,  bringing  him 
down  with  a  crash,  and  pressing  his  shoulders  and 
hips  tightly  to  the  earth. 

"  The  second  event  goes  to  '95,"  said  the  umpire. 

The  sophomore  limped  away.  The  freshmen  raised 
a  cheer  and  a  few  of  them  cried,  "  Good  work, 
Eldredge !  you  downed  him  beautifully." 

12 


THE   MERRYMAKERS 

"  The  third  and  last  event  of  the  evening,"  cried 
the  umpire,  "  will  be  a  bout  between  heavyweights." 

"  You  're  the  man,"  whispered  James  to  Tarbell. 
"  I  know  the  fellow  '94  has  chosen ;  he  is  a  brute, 
but  you  will  throw  him  if  he  does  n't  get  you  around 
the  waist." 

"  I  should  n't  like  to  disgrace  the  class,"  Tarbell 
answered ;  but  James  cried,  "  Hurrah  for  Tarbell ! " 
and  then  there  was  no  getting  out  of  it,  so  Tarbell 
stepped  forward  very  deliberately.  His  adversary 
was  waiting  for  him.  The  Arizona  man  had  simply 
slipped  off  his  coat  and  waistcoat;  the  sophomore 
was  naked  to  his  trousers.  Evidently  he  hardly  ex 
pected  to  be  thrown,  as  the  ground  was  uneven  and 
stony.  There  was  excitement  on  each  side,  for  this 
was  the  decisive  bout  and  would  raise  or  lower  the 
prestige  of  the  class  that  won  it. 

The  two  men  walked  up  to  each  other  and  shook 
hands.  Then  they  backed  off  and  began  circling 
slowly,  with  their  bodies  bent  slightly  forward  and 
their  arms  working  nervously. 

"Careful,  Brown,"  some  one  said;  "you  know 
where  to  catch  him." 

The  sophomore  made  a  quick  rush  at  Tarbell,  who 
jumped  aside  and  slapped  down  the  hand  that 
clutched  at  his  waist.  Then,  before  his  adversary 
had  quite  recovered  his  balance,  both  Tarbell's  hands 
grasped  him  by  the  wrist  and  gave  him  such  a  wrench 
that  he  spun  half-way  round  and  fell  full  on  his  face. 
In  a  second  the  Western  man  was  on  him,  but  the 
match  was  over.  The  sophomore  was  winded;  his 
skin  was  scraped  and  bleeding. 

13 


BOYS   AND   MEN 

"  The  third  and  last  event  of  the  evening,"  cried 
the  umpire,  "  is  won  b}'  Tarbell,  and  the  honours  go  to 
'95."  Straightway  there  was  a  scramble.  The  fresh 
men  gathered  about  their  champion,  cheering  them 
selves  hoarse.  That  is  one  way  in  which  men  begin 
to  be  known  at  Yale. 

The  crowd  began  now  to  break  up.  Various 
groups  straggled  through  the  streets,  singing  their 
pet  ditties,  shouting,  talking,  laughing,  —  defeat  or 
victory  making  little  difference.  Eldredge,  Tarbell, 
and  a  few  others  were  still  on  the  field. 

"  I  say !  Tarbell,"  said  James,  "  you  spun  that  man 
to  the  Queen's  taste.  I  am  deeply  grateful  to  you. 
He  tried  some  nonsense  on  me  this  morning,  but  now 
I  am  even  with  him."  Tarbell  laughed. 

"  That  was  great  work  I  "  chimed  Budson,  putting 
one  arm  about  Eldredge's  shoulder  and  patting  Tar 
bell  approvingly  on  the  back.  "  I  hope  neither  of 
you  men  is  hurt.  If  you  are,  come  over  to  my  room 
—  got  a  whole  chest  full  of  drugs  over  there,  and  can 
doctor  you  up  in  no  time." 

At  this  instant  a  new  man  joined  the  group.  He 
was  very  modest  and  affable.  "  I  saw  you  fellows 
standing  here,"  said  he,  "  and  as  you  evidently  be 
long  to  my  class,  I  thought  I  'd  ask  you  if  you  wished 
to  see  a  little  fun  down  town.  Lots  of  us  freshmen 
will  be  there.  There  's  going  to  be  a  celebration." 

Everybody  seemed  willing  enough,  so  the  new 
comer  made  himself  guide.  He  appeared  to  know  a 
deal  about  the  University  and  the  town.  They 
crossed  the  old  Green,  passed  through  a  dirty  alley, 
and  entered  a  small  court.  The  well-informed  young 

14 


THE  MERRYMAKERS 

man  knocked  at  a  door ;  it  opened,  and  the  new  party 
entered.  The  door  shut  behind  them.  Immediately 
there  arose  a  confusion  of  yells  :  "  Hey  there  !  More 
freshmen  !  Bully  for  you,  Dodge !  "  The  room  was 
crowded  with  men  who  sat  at  tables,  drinking  beer 
in  tankards.  The  air  was  thick  with  smoke.  One 
fellow  was  perched  on  a  chair  which  had  been  set 
upon  a  table.  He  was  blindfolded. 

"  Well,"  said  Eldredge  to  James,  "  we  're  in  for 
it ! "  and  added,  "  Perhaps  that  Dodge  heard  you 
say  how  you  had  got  even  with  Brown." 

Billy  looked  rather  sheepish  at  having  been 
tricked  so  easily.  Tarbell  showed  no  emotion.  He 
was  quietly  "  sizing  up  "  the  situation.  Somebody 
shouted :  "  Sit  down,  Freshmen !  What  do  you 
mean  by  standing  up  while  everybody  else  has  a 
chair?" 

"  There  are  n't  any  chairs  left,"  remarked  Budson, 
guilelessly. 

"  Then  sit  on  the  floor  and  hang  your  feet  off- 
Take  off  your  hat !  Gentlemen  never  wear  their 
hats  in  the  house." 

"  Then  why  do  you  wear  yours  ?  "  retorted  Budson. 

"  I  am  not  a  gentleman,"  said  the  tormentor,  "  I 
am  a  lady.  Waiter,  bring  this  freshman  a  glass  of 
water." 

44  Hello!  Why,  holy  smoke!  If  that  isn't  my 
friend  Budson  !  "  cried  another.  "  How  d'  ye  do,  old 
man?  Waiter,  put  a  little  salt  in  that  water.  I 
say,  Freshman  Budson,  do  you  recognize  that 
boy  on  the  table?  We've  been  trying  to  find  out 
whether  he  knows  you.  Hey  there,  child!  Look 

15 


BOYS  AND  MEN 

this  way!  I  want  you  to  meet  Mr.  Budson.  Mr. 
Budson  is  one  of  the  brightest  boys  in  your  class. 
Aren't  you,  Edwin?" 

The  blindfolded  youth  was  now  commanded  to 
descend,  and,  before  he  quite  realized  what  had 
occurred,  Budson  was  in  his  place,  but  they  put  no 
bandage  over  his  eyes.  Then  a  slender  youth  beat 
upon  the  table  for  silence. 

"  Gentlemen ! "  cried  he,  "  let  us  all  join  in  singing 
4  Bingo ! '  Do  you  sing,  Edwin  ?  " 

"A  little,"  replied  Budson. 

"  I  did  n't  suppose  you  were  a  De  Reszke.  What 
voice  ?  " 

"  Baritone,  I  guess." 

"  You  should  say  baritone,  I  think,  sir.  Gentlemen 
don't  say  I  guess.  Now  we  will  sing  the  air  and  you 
may  join  in  the  chorus.  Do  you  know  how  to  sing 
chorus  ?  " 

"  Yes,  sir." 

"  All  right,  then.     Have  you  learned  the  words  ?  " 

"Yes,  sir,  I  think  so." 

"  Tray  beens  I     Now  we  're  off ! " 

"  Here  's  to  good  old  Yale,  drink  her  down,  drink  her  down ; 
Here  's  to  good  old  Yale,  drink  her  down,  drink  her  down  ; 
Here  's  to  good  old  Yale,  she 's  so  hearty  and  so  hale  ; 
Drink  her  down,  drink  her  down,  drink  her  down,  down,  down." 

"  Now,  chorus ! "  shouted  the  conductor. 

Budson  started  off  loudly:  "We  won't  go  there 
any  more ; "  but  the  room  was  so  still  that  you  could 
have  heard  a  shadow. 

"  That  will  do  for  you,  Budson,"  said  the  conductor, 
and  Budson  was  taken  down  amid  shouts  of  laughter. 

16 


THE   MERRYMAKERS 

Tarbell  looked  on  grimly ;  Eldredge  said  nothing ; 
James  seemed  to  be  immersed  in  thought. 

"Whose  turn  is  it  now?"  yelled  several  at  once. 
"  Ah !  yes,  the  gentleman  from  Ken-tucky.  Up,  sah ! 
Stand  on  the  table ! "  The  man  from  Kentucky 
stood  on  the  table,  and  there  was  fire  in  his  eye. 

"  Now,  Colonel,"  said  a  flabby  youth  who  had  just 
drained  another  tankard,  "  will  you  kindly  give  your 
maiden  name  and  state  when  and  why  you  were 
born?" 

"  My  name  is  Fitzhugh  Clifton  Thorndyke,  sir ;  I 
refuse  to  answer  your  other  question." 

"  Never  mind,  Mr.  Thorndyke,  the  fact  is  of  no 
importance.  Will  you  be  so  good  as  to  tell  us  what 
is  the  most  remarkable  thing  in  the  State  you  hail 
from  when  you  are  not  at  home  ?  " 

"Apparently,"  replied  Thorndyke,  with  the  tone 
of  his  native  soil,  "  you  consider  yourself  a  wit,  but 
it  strikes  me  as  beinvof  a  very  low  order." 

When  a  man  has  a  temper  like  that,  and  dignity  to 
boot,  it  is  wiser  not  to  goad  him  too  far.  The  South 
erner  was  requested  to  get  down,  which  he  did  with 
the  haughty  air  that  bespeaks  your  thoroughbred. 
It  is  generally  true  that  Southerners  and  men  from 
the  mountains  of  the  West  have  small  liking  for 
Yankee  chaff.  Perhaps  it  comes  from  living  in  a 
sparsely  settled  region  where  firearms  are  looked  into 
more  often  than  comic  papers.  However  that  may 
be,  a  Yalensian  usually  has  the  tact  to  know  the  dif 
ference  between  jest  in  fun  and  jest  in  earnest. 

"  Where  is  the  next  victim  ?  "  asked  an  inquisitor. 

"  My  new  friend  James,"  some  one  answered ;  and 
2  17 


BOYS   AND   MEN 

Billy  recognized  the  voice  of  Dodge.  But  there  was 
no  help  for  it ;  so  Billy  mounted  the  table  and  in  an 
instant  every  joker  or  would-be  joker  in  the  room 
was  firing  the  small  shot  of  his  wit  at  whatever  he 
imagined  to  be  a  weak  spot  in  the  young  man's 
armour.  Some  of  the  questions  James  pretended  not 
to  hear;  others  he  answered  with  amusing  good 
sense,  restraining  the  flood  of  his  repartee  just  where 
it  might  become  impertinence. 

Finally  some  well-moistened  individual  bawled  out, 
"I  say,  Mr.  James,  how  do  you  decline  the  verb 
Nbot" 

There  was  a  storm  of  caterwauls  and  derisive 
shouts:  "Down  with  Old  Stuff  Bingham  !  "  "OK, 
Bingham,  guess  again !  "  etc.,  etc. 

James  stepped  down  from  the  table,  and  finding 
Tarbell  and  Eldredge,  slipped  out  into  the  street. 
They  went  along  together,  arm  in  arm,  as  if  they 
had  known  one  another  all  their  lives. 

"  Say,  Jack,"  blurted  Billy,  as  he  started  out  of  a 
sleepy  silence,  "had  we  anything  to  grind  out  for 
to-morrow  ?  " 

"  Of  course ;  it 's  all  on  the  bulletin." 

"  In  that  case,"  said  James,  "  I  shall  have  to  burn 
the  midnight  oil." 

"  Oh !  worse  'n  that,"  responded  Jack,  cheerfully. 

The  town  clock  was  striking  eleven.  "  Well, 
good-night,"  said  James ;  "  it  looks  as  if  I  were  going 
to  be  prevented  from  living  up  to  resolutions." 

"  Good-night,"  said  his  two  companions ;  and  they 
crossed  the  old  Common  and  passed  between  Durfee 
College  and  Battell  Chapel  on  to  the  Campus. 

18 


THE   MERRYMAKERS 

As  they  climbed  Farnani's  stairs,  Tarbell  said, 
"  How  is  it,  Eldredge,  that  you  and  I  were  n't  made 
to  share  in  that  nonsense  ?  " 

"  Between  ourselves,"  answered  Eldredge,  "  I  know 
some  of  those  fellows  and  asked  them  not  to  bother 
us.  I  am  pledged  to  join  one  of  their  societies  — 
secret  —  you  know,  and  I  thought  you  might  like  to 
be  with  the  crowd.  That 's  why  they  left  us  alone 
—  do  you  see  ?  " 

u  Yes,  I  think  I  do,"  answered  Tarbell,  "  but  it  is 
d d  strange.  I  wonder  where  my  room  is." 

"  Here  ;  strike  a  match,"  said  Eldredge.  "  It 's 
just  across  the  hall.  You  '11  find  Hudson's  card  on 
the  door.  Good-night." 

"  Good-night." 

John  Eldredge  threw  off  his  dirty  clothes  and 
crawled  into  bed.  He  was  bruised  and  weary.  The 
rain  had  ceased  to  fall,  and  a  full  September  moon 
was  shining  into  his  small  bedroom,  while  somewhere 
down  on  the  Common  three  or  four  tuneful  voices 
were  singing  a  sentimental  song.  Joe  Glenn  was 
slumbering  just  audibly  in  the  twin  bedroom  across 
the  study.  For  a  while  Eldredge  lay  thinking  the 
vague  thoughts  that  come  to  a  man  just  before  he  falls 
asleep.  Then  he  heard  the  chime  of  the  college 
clock  making  ready  to  strike  twelve.  How  beautiful 
it  sounds  during  the  first  few  weeks  of  college  life  ! 
But  when  a  man  has  heard  it  awhile  he  finds  that 
the  clock  is  imperious,  and  that  the  bells  are  out  of 
tune. 


19 


II 

THE  GOUKMETS  — ALSO  BUDSON 

SAVE  in  a  volunteer  regiment  on  the  brink  of 
battle,  there  is  no  place  where  a  man  can  make 
friends  more  quickly  than  at  college.  They  come 
quite  naturally,  because  what  pleases  you  pleases  also 
them;  and  they  stay  till  time  and  necessity  have 
slowly  rubbed  them  from  your  memory,  and  you  are 
obliged  to  forget  them  as  old  age  sometimes  makes 
men  forget  even  what  they  themselves  once  were.  In 
a  week  you  have  known  your  neighbour  a  year ;  in  a 
year  you  have  known  him  all  your  life.  He  borrows 
your  books  and  sleeps  in  your  bed ;  he  sins  and  you 
repent  for  him.  He  may  even  end  by  marrying  the 
one  whom  you  had  chosen,  but  still  he  is  your 
friend.  St.  Elihu  is  the  tie  that  binds.  It  is  his 
spirit  —  the  Yale  spirit  —  that  for  two  centuries 
has  breathed  such  force  and  optimism  into  his  innu 
merable  brood. 

In  making  these  friends,  what  strange  things  may 
happen !  Suppose,  for  instance,  that  your  name  be 
Smith.  On  one  side  of  you  sits  Smiley;  on  the 
other,  Smythe.  Smiley  invites  you  to  his  home 
to  spend  Christmas.  Smiley  has  a  beautiful  sister 
who  straightway  falls  in  love  with  you.  Flattered 
at  being  valued  at  your  true  worth,  you  reciprocate 
Miss  Smiley's  passion,  overcome  the  obduracy  of 

20 


THE   GOURMETS  —  ALSO   BUDSOX 

her  sire,  and  eventually  marry  her.  As  likely  as 
not  her  father's  fears  were  groundless,  —  a  fact 
which  may  easily  be  proved  by  your  living  happily 
ever  afterward. 

Now,  suppose  that  you  like  Smiley  less  than 
S  my  the.  Smythe  has  no  sister,  but  he  is  enormously 
rich.  He  sees  in  you  one  of  those  men  who  have  an 
inborn  capacity  for  managing  vast  estates.  This  fact 
he  communicates  to  his  father,  who  obtains  your  ser 
vices,  and,  having  discovered  that  your  talents  sur 
pass  his  most  sanguine  expectations,  intrusts  to  you 
the  care  of  his  prodigious  fortune.  In  a  few  years 
you  are  rich  beyond  the  dreams  of  avarice,  and  ulti 
mately  secure  a  seat  in  the  Senate. 

Evidently,  since  all  your  weal  or  woe  may  hang  on 
just  such  a  chance,  if  you  are  a  wise  man  you  will  go 
with  both  eyes  open,  and  make  a  careful  study  both 
of  Smiley  and  of  Smythe  before  you  risk  your  happi 
ness.  A  man  should  choose  his  friends  as  he  chooses 
his  clothes,  —  to  fit.  Therefore  be  circumspect,  es 
chewing  all  Budsonian  cordiality,  which  must  inevi 
tably  lead  to  a  deadly  snub. 

Glenn  and  Eldredge  were  aroused  at  a  sunny  hour 

by  Andrew  Jackson,  who  was  looking  for  their  boots. 

"  Is  that  you,  Andrew  ?  "  said  Eldredge,  engulfing 

the   last   word   in    a    yawn.      "  What   time    is    it, 

Andrew  ?  " 

"Fo*  minutes  pas'  seven,  Mistah  El'redge." 

"  Then  wake  me  up  in  just  twent}T-six  minutes." 

"  Oh,  Jack  Eldredge !  "  shouts  Glenn.     "  Are  you 


up?" 


21 


BOYS   AND   MEN 

"  At  this  infernal  hour?  I  should  say  not !  Go  to 
sleep." 

"  Get  up,  you  lazy  duffer.  It 's  twenty  minutes  to 
eight." 

"  Great  heavens !  No  —  is  it  ?  Andrew,  I  thought 
you  said  it  was  four  minutes  past  seven." 

"  Excuse  me,  Mr.  El'redge,  I  reckon  ma  watch 
must  ha'  got  twisted.  It 's  now  exackly  twenty-eight 
minutes  and  a  qua'ter  befo'  eight." 

"Thanks,  Andrew.  Joe,  remind  me  to  buy  an 
alarm  clock.  Our  sweep  is  liable  to  break  his  main 
spring  and  leave  me  in  the  lurch." 

This  trivial  conversation  having  passed,  the  two 
leap  out  of  bed.  Eldredge  makes  some  passes  at  an 
imaginary  boxer,  splashes  himself  with  cold  water, 
dives  into  his  clothes,  spends  five  minutes  looking  for 
a  button,  and  is  ready  for  breakfast,  which  is  con 
sumed  in  about  fifteen  minutes. 

The  Chapel  clock  is  striking  eight,  and  long  lines 
of  students  are  straggling  toward  morning  prayers. 
Most  of  them  are  well-dressed,  and  bear  themselves 
with  an  air  of  easy-going  elegance.  It  is  not  rain 
ing,  but  many  have  their  trousers  turned  up.  The 
custom  is  quite  justifiable,  since  it  enables  a  man 
to  show  his  taste  in  socks,  and  saves  him  the  ardu 
ous  labour  of  taking  a  reef  in  bad  weather.  Others 
wear  white  or  plain  blue  sweaters.  On  some  of 
the  blue  sweaters  are  white  numerals  to  show  mem 
bership  in  a  class  or  college  crew,  or  in  some  other 
of  the  many  small  teams.  A  few  bear  huge  Ys, 
—  a  token  of  high  estate,  —  for  the  wearer  is  on 
a  Varsity  team  or  rows  in  the  Varsity  crew.  And 

22 


THE   GOURMETS  —  ALSO   BUDSON 

still    others    there    be   who   wear    sweaters    out  of 
thrift. 

"  Observe  the  lazy  Peterson. 
He  has  an  ancient  sweater  on. 
He  wears  it  all  the  week  and  Sundy 
And  does  not  get  it  washed  on  Mundy. 
If  I  had  half  a  dozen  dollars 
I  'd  buy  this  man  some  linen  collars." 

The  great  pointer  on  the  clock  is  moving  visibly 
toward  ten  minutes  past  eight,  and  the  straggling  lines 
grow  denser.  This  is  the  moment  when  the  future  in 
curable  dyspeptic  is  bolting  his  last  mouthful.  He 
knows  to  a  second  just  when  he  must  break  for  the 
Chapel  in  order  to  escape  the  marks  which  may 
doom  him  to  a  six  weeks'  residence  in  the  country 
if  the  great  doors  are  shut  in  his  face  instead  of  just 
behind  his  back.  The  crowd  moves  faster  and  faster. 
Upper  classmen  quit  the  Fence,  where  they  have 
been  basking  in  the  morning  sun,  and  join  in  the 
rush.  From  the  farthest  part  of  the  Quadrangle  the 
most  hardened  loiterers  begin  their  daily  paradoxical 
sprint.  It  is  a  two-hundred-yard  dash  to  the  Chapel 
door.  The  organ,  with  a  habit  known  to  old-timers, 
plays  threateningly.  In  an  instant  more  the  big 
doors  swing  into  their  locks,  and  Lazy  Tom  is  left 
outside  to  reckon  his  marks  with  Sleepy  Dick  and 
Shiftless  Harry. 

Freshmen  are  very  careful  not  to  miss  this  first 
morning,  —  quite  as  careful  as  the  improvident  are 
to  stay  in  their  beds.  It  has  a  novelty  then,  and 
there  is  a  fascination  in  being  inside  a  church  where 
a  thousand  men  are  gathered  to  respect  a  tradition. 

23 


BOYS   AND   MEN 

Besides,  the  music  is  ponderous  with  bassos  robustos 
and  baritone  tenors.  It  thrills  for  a  while  in  those 
first  days  of  innocence,  but  after  a  time  you  get  used 
to  it,  and  finally  hear  nothing  at  all.  The  first  year 
Chapel  is  a  task ;  the  second  it  is  drudgery ;  the 
third  it  is  duty  in  duty's  most  utilitarian  form ;  the 
fourth  and  last  it  is  a  habit,  —  twenty  minutes  of 
something  between  a  stupor  and  a  waking  sleep. 
When  it  is  all  over,  the  man  who  has  gone  through 
comes  to  the  conclusion  that  Chapel  is  a  very  bene 
ficial  institution,  —  a  conclusion  which  he  enforces 
upon  his  younger  brother  or  unwilling  son. 

But  for  a  new-comer  it  is  a  pleasing  sensation  to  sit 
within  those  walls  and  breathe  in  Yale's  oldest  tradi 
tion.  Tarbell,  who  was  not  a  pious  man,  sat  beneath 
the  oaken  gallery,  and,  like  a  true  Westerner,  "  sized 
things  up."  As  the  organ  began  the  chant,  he  could 
hear  Budson  blurt  one  faulty  note,  and  abruptly  stop, 
as  no  one  in  the  church  save  the  choir  was  singing. 
"  However,"  thought  Tarbell  to  himself,  "  Budson 
is  n't  such  an  ass  when  you  have  eliminated  his  most 
salient  characteristics."  The  fact  was  that  Tarbell, 
who  had  bought  no  furniture,  had  been  obliged  to  re 
sort  almost  to  violence  before  he  could  persuade  the 
man  not  to  give  up  his  narrow  bed.  Tarbell  slept  on 
the  floor  as  he  had  many  a  time  slept  on  the  bare  earth, 
and  thought  the  more  kindly  of  Budson. 

The  Western  man  had  hardly  been  out  of  his  own 
State  until  now,  but  he  was  shrewd  enough  to  rise  or 
sit  at  the  proper  time,  and  he  observed  that  the  boys 
immediately  about  him  watched  the  upper  classmen 
narrowly,  so  as  to  make  no  "  bulls."  Presently  there 

24 


THE   GOURMETS —  ALSO  BUDSON 

came  the  benediction ;  then  every  one  stood  while  the 
seniors  faced  the  centre  aisle.  The  organ  struck  up 
a  recessional,  and  the  President  passed  down  between 
the  senior  pews.  As  he  did  so,  the  men  immediately 
in  front  of  him  bowed  to  their  waists,  and  fell  in  be 
hind  the  President,  following  him  so  closely  as  almost 
to  touch  the  tails  of  his  coat.  There  used,  by  the 
way,  to  be  a  superstition  that  actual  contact  there 
with  would  work  a  charrn. 

In  another  instant  every  one  was  moving  toward 
the  doors.  Two  orderly  lines  passed,  —  one  along 
College  Street  between  the  University  buildings 
and  the  Green;  the  other  down  the  Campus,  chat 
ting  over  morning  papers  or  whiffing  short-lived 
cigarettes. 

Tarbell  walked  along  with  James,  who  had  the 
bedraggled  look  which  comes  of  going  to  bed  at  four 
and  rising  at  seven.  Close  behind  came  Eldredge, 
walking  mechanically,  while  his  brains  absorbed  the 
intricacies  of  a  certain  transparent  figure  which  looked 
to  him  more  like  a  badly  made  rat-trap  than  a  problem 
of  solid  geometry.  Now  the  long  lines  broke  into 
smaller  groups  which  entered  various  buildings  or 
went  wherever  their  business  carried  them. 

Who  that  has  not  been  through  it  can  know  the 
queerness  of  those  first  days  of  college  life !  It  is  a 
new  world,  differing  from  the  bigger  one  without  as 
a  beehive  differs  from  a  Noah's  Ark.  Small  wonder 
that  a  youth  who  has  freshly  tumbled  into  it  should 
go  about  in  a  sort  of  maze,  with  his  head  full  of  blun 
ders  yet  unborn,  and  stepping  at  every  instant  upon 
the  toes  of  some  hallowed  tradition ! 

25 


BOYS   AND   MEN 

The  very  first  day,  Budson  was  guilty  of  smoking  a 
pipe  (which  he  was  promptly  requested  to  put  into 
his  pocket),  and  of  taking  a  beardless  tutor  for  a 
freshman.  Budson  had,  purely  out  of  habit,  addressed 
him  as  "  old  man,"  and  did  not  realize  his  error  until 
he  saw  the  beardless  young  man  behind  a  desk,  and 
heard  him  explain  how  it  was  that  "  Hamlet "  was  writ 
by  Shakespeare  and  not  by  Bacon.  "  I  tell  you,"  said 
Budson,  afterward,  "  these  tutors  have  wonderful  tact. 
Why,  that  man  did  n't  even  notice  me  on  the  street 
an  hour  later  !  But  it  was  a  great  joke  on  me,  was  n't 
it?" 

After  the  first  recitation,  Tarbell,  who  could  get 
something  useful  even  out  of  Budson's  conversation, 
with  a  few  hints  from  Eldredge,  began  to  organize  an 
eating  club,  thereby  doing  away  with  an  expense  of 
five  or  six  dollars  a  week.  Tarbell  —  to  use  his  own 
expression  —  was  "  considerably  shy  on  money," 
though  he  confessed  to  having  four  thousand  dollars 
invested  at  twelve  per  cent  somewhere  in  New  Mex 
ico.  Jack  smiled  when  he  heard  this,  as  he  had  a 
couple  of  hundred  thousand  drawing  three  per  cent 
when  times  were  good. 

"  Tarbell,  you  are  certainly  a  hustler,"  said  Jack. 

"  You  have  to  be  when  your  capital  is  no  bigger 
than  mine,"  answered  Tarbell,  and  then  added,  "  The 
lucky  thing  about  this  eating  club  is  that  my  partner 
is  rounding  up  one  for  himself.  I  believe  he  has 
fifteen  men." 

"  I  should  like  to  have  a  look  at  them  when  he  has 
them  all  together,"  remarked  Jack,  with  a  tinge  of 
irony. 

26 


THE  GOURMETS —  ALSO  BUDSON 

By  the  evening  of  that  day  Tarbell  had  mustered 
in  what  James  afterward  characterized  as  "  the  most 
interesting  aggregation  of  freaks  that  ever  sat  at  one 
table."  Of  course  that  meant  himself  as  well  as  Tar- 
bell,  Eldredge,  Glenn,  and  others  unnamed.  More 
over,  Tarbell  had  found  a  landlady  who  promised  all 
that  he  asked,  and  volunteered,  without  so  much  as  a 
hint,  that  she  served  pie  only  twice  a  week.  When 
one  considers  that  in  Connecticut  pie  just  as  normally 
ends  a  meal  as  soup  outside  of  the  pie  belt  begins  it,  the 
fact  gains  an  almost  historic  importance.  Certain  it  is 
that  during  four  years  no  one  ever  quit  the  Gourmets 
— barring  two  or  three  who  went  to  the  training  table, 
and  Mr.  Fitzhugh  Thorndyke  and  James,  who  in  due 
time  spent  six  weeks  of  enforced  absence  in  the  coun 
try.  The  famous  Tobacco  Parliament  met  in  the  first 
place  to  Smoke,  in  the  second  to  think ;  the  chief  aim 
of  the  Gourmets  was  to  Eat.  But  what  substantial 
consequences  are  wrapped  up  in  that  one  word !  If  a 
man  is  healthy,  he  is  hungry  ;  if  he  is  hungry,  he  eats ; 
if  he  eats,  he  will  not  quarrel,  because  food  maketh 
friendship.  Ergo,  the  Gourmets  did  not  quarrel  — 
except  sometimes. 

How  full  and  joyful  are  those  first  days !  Every 
thing  seems  so  strange  that  a  man  loses  his  own 
thoughts,  almost  his  own  emotions  ;  but  he  comes 
to  with  the  realization  that  to  cope  successfully  he 
must  put  forth  his  strength  and  do  something,  else 
his  own  existence  will  be  submerged,  and  others  will 
wear  the  tiny  crown  that  the  admiring  majority  sets 
upon  its  heroes.  It  is  a  mimic  world  without  the 
women.  There  are  friendships,  meannesses,  jealous- 

27 


BOYS   AND   MEN 

ies,  and  galling  strife.  It  is  a  jumbled  comedy  with 
out  a  plot,  with  stars  and  supes  ;  and  once  in  a  while 
there  is  a  touch  of  something  that  for  a  moment  robs 
the  situation  of  its  gayety,  as  a  small  cloud  casts  a 
shadow  on  a  sunlit  day. 

On  the  afternoon  of  the  third  day  everybody  had 
begun  to  find  himself.  Tarbell  and  Eldredge,  sore 
in  muscle  but  stubborn  of  spirit,  were  struggling  for 
places  in  the  University  football  squad.  James  was 
suffering  all  the  pangs  of  the  lazy  man  who  has  ideals 
and  a  conscience,  while  Budson  was  making  and  los 
ing  friends  at  the  rate  of  a  dozen  a  day.  To  say  that 
Budson  had  ambition  would  belittle  the  truth.  His 
imagination  soared  to  ambition's  highest  peaks,  scan 
ning  the  horizon  with  the  eagle  glance  of  a  desire 
that  has  no  end.  Was  there  a  place  on  the  Crew  ? 
Then  he  would  fill  it.  Was  the  University  in  dire 
need  of  literary  talent?  Budson  was  the  man. 
There  was  no  honour  to  which  he  did  not  aspire, 
and  none  that  he  received.  Hardly  a  week  had 
passed  when  there  was  to  be  an  election  to  a  high 
office.  Budson  informed  everybody  in  strictest  con 
fidence  that  he  had  packed  the  meeting  and  expected 
to  be  chosen  by  a  unanimous  vote.  He  was  named, 
seconded,  and,  lo !  the  ballot  box  held  only  one  slip 
bearing  his  name,  and  that  in  his  handwriting.  A 
weaker  soul  might  have  faltered.  Not  so  Budson. 
His  eager  brain  was  fired  to  greater  efforts,  just  as 
a  man  may  be  fired  by  a  bomb  which  explodes  in  his 
own  pocket.  He  had  been  informed  by  a  skilled 
leech  at  the  Gymnasium  that  his  shape  was  perfectly 
normal.  "  What  does  perfectly  normal  mean  ?  "  said 

28 


THE   GOURMETS  — ALSO  BUDSON 

the  inner  consciousness  of  Budson  to  itself.  "  Why, 
strength,  of  course,  manly  strength ! "  So  Budson 
inspected  his  muscles  and  went  forth  upon  the  foot 
ball  field  to  do  battle.  There  was  a  mighty  heave,  a 
cloud  of  dust,  and  when  the  pile  was  undone  Budson 
was  found  holding  the  runner  securely.  He  had 
"  downed  him  in  his  tracks."  Then  somebody  said, 
"  You  idiot-!  Don't  you  know  that  man  is  on  your 
own  side  ?  "  —  and  thus  another  glory  was  never  won. 
So  he  turned  to  literature.  Here  was  a  field  where 
neither  the  corruption  of  politics  nor  the  need  of 
unthinking  brute  force  could  prevail.  What  madri 
gals  dripped  from  his  pen,  what  epics  soared,  what 
ballads  danced  upon  innumerable  virgin  quires  !  It 
was  a  wonder  the  very  paper  did  not  blush.  How 
little  the  editors  of  the  "  Lit "  appreciated  these 
genial  flights  will  be  easily  seen  from  the  following, 
which  now  for  the  first  time  stands  in  print.  Who 
the  fair  lady  was  may  never  be  known ;  perhaps  but 
a  tender  creature  of  rhapsodical  fancy.  The  poem  is 
called  "  To  Elsa's  Eyes,"  and  thus  it  runs : 

Deep  azure  orbs,  sweet  eyes  of  brown, 
Adown  your  hazel  depths  I  gaze. 
You  sweetly  smile  —  you  could  not  frown ! 
And  searching  in  their  beauteous  maze 
My  heart  is  filled  with  Love's  loud  glee; 
For  then,  Fair  Elsa,  as  I  gaze, 
Methinks  that  I  my  image  see ! 

This  dazzling  gem  was  confided  by  its  author  to 
one  W.  James,  who,  seeing  its  chaste  excellence, 
shared  it  with  others,  and  thus  it  became  known 
to  almost  every  one  in  the  University.  So  what 

29 


BOYS   AND   MEN 

advantage  could  there  have  been  in  giving  it  to 
print  ? 

None  of  these  vagaries  bothered  Tarbell  in  the 
least.  He  took  Budson  seriously,  therefore  chari 
tably.  There  are  people  who  seem  fated  to  show 
their  frailties,  while  their  virtues  stay  at  home.  Deep 
down  in  Budson  there  was  a  kernel  of  generosity. 
He  was  cheeky,  but  he  was  not  selfish.  Tarbell 
knew  all  this ;  so,  when  others  tickled  their  vanity 
by  raking  poor  Budson  fore  and  aft,  Tarbell  stood  by 
him,  and  more  than  once  felt  his  long  right  leg  itch 
with  a  desire  to  kick  several  fellows  into  a  proper 
state  of  humiliation.  Meanwhile  he  set  to  work  to 
get  some  sense  into  his  room-mate,  who  listened  to 
him  as  a  boy  listens  to  his  grandfather.  And  that 
was  about  the  difference  in  growth. 

"Budson,  the  trouble  with  you  is  that  you  set 
your  mouth  going  and  then  go  off  and  leave  it.  If 
you  don't  quit  that,  somebody  will  call  you  an  ass." 
Thus  would  Tarbell  pitch  into  him,  and  it  was  mar 
vellous  how  Budson  took  it.  Of  course  Tarbell  knew 
that  Budson's  parents  were  responsible  when  it  came 
to  the  last  analysis,  but  that  was  something  he  never 
intimated. 

"  What  you  need,"  said  the  Arizona  man,  "is  to 
quit  pottering  over  poetry  and  bone  down.  This 
college  is  n't  meant  for  such  soaring  ambitions  as 
yours.  So  cool  off,  put  your  wings  into  your  trunk, 
and  take  a  turn  at  solid  work." 

"  But  the  other  men  will  scoop  the  prizes." 

"  Prizes  be  damned !  "  said  Tarbell.  "  This  Univer 
sity  isn't  a  little  two-for-a-cent  Olympia!  " 

30 


THE   GOURMETS  —  ALSO   BUDSON 

This  sort  of  thing  happened  frequently  during  the 
autumn  term,  and  Budson  went  about  like  a  man 
who  has  made  an  heroic  sacrifice,  —  which  means 
that  he  looked  melancholy.  The  net  result  was  that 
he  swallowed  Tarbell's  doses,  laid  in  a  stock  of 
"trots,"  and  began  to  make  up  lost  time. 


31 


Ill 

A  RIOT 

THOSE  late  October  days  were  beautiful.     The 
big  elms  were  just  turning  to  a  tawny  brown, 
and/the  outlying  country  was  glorious  with  hues  of  de 
cay.    This  was  just  what  pleased  the  romantic  James. 

"  You  may  say  what  you  will  about  the  benefits  of 
the  higher  education,"  quoth  he,  "but  give  me  a  good 
book  and  let  me  lie  under  a  tree  away  from  bells  and 
whistles." 

It  was  the  demon  of  sloth  laying  snares  for  the 
man  who  was  born  tired  and  needed  all  his  life  to 
rest.  So  Billy  studied  just  enough  to  satisfy  his  con 
science,  which  was  lenient,  and  spent  hours  wander 
ing  over  the  hills  with  Joshua  Drake,  whom  he  had 
nicknamed  Josh  the  Geologist,  and  other  worshippers 
of  Pan.  Or  they  would  join  the  other  worshipful 
crowd  which  spent  its  afternoons  on  the  Field,  where 
the  various  squads  were  getting  into  trim  for  the 
coming  struggles  with  Princeton  and  Harvard.  Two 
heavy  ropes  were  stretched,  one  on  each  side  of  the 
gridiron,  behind  which  stood  some  hundreds  of 
youths,  who  watched  their  heroes  as  they  surged  back 
and  forth,  mopping  the  grime  and  gore  from  their 
reeking  faces.  It  was  no  farce,  either,  but  every 
one  tussled  as  if  the  fate  of  the  University's  honour 
reposed  upon  his  own  sweaty  shoulders. 

32 


A   RIOT 

"Hey!  Tarbell's  got  the  ball!  There  he  goes 
through  the  line !  Look  at  the  hole !  Gad,  did  you 
see  that  tackle?" 

Then  the  coach  would  berate  some  unlucky  wight 
for  not  being  livelier,  and  the  scrimmage  began  again. 
Whenever  the  ball  was  passed  the  ropes  were  strained 
by  the  fascinated  crowd,  which  now  and  then  burst 
into  a  cheer  as  some  one  made  a  brilliant  play. 
Eldredge  had  a  black  eye,  and  stopped  frequently  to 
nurse  a  bleeding  nose,  but  he  pranced  around  or 
through  the  opposing  lines  like  a  crazy  bull,  his  long 
hair  flying  and  a  baleful  gleam  in  his  sound  eye. 
Now  and  then  he  dropped  the  ball,  and  the  bald- 
headed  coach  would  launch  at  him  a  volley  of  rough 
criticisms.  At  Yale  this  sort  of  thing  is  a  tradition 
sanctified  by  victory  and  the  democratic  spirit.  No 
body  has  any  business  to  be  ruffled  by  it,  and  nobody 
ever  talks  back. 

When  the  practice  was  done,  the  dirty  heroes  put 
on  their  sweaters,  climbed  into  wagons  and  were  hur 
ried  to  the  Gymnasium,  where  the  coaches  delivered  a 
second  round  of  abuse  at  the  wriggling,  naked  forms 
beneath  the  showers.  Thus:  "You  men  play  as  if 
you  had  never  seen  a  ball  before.  —  Tarbell,  why 
don't  you  use  your  elbows  more?  McBurney,  you 
run  as  if  your  legs  were  asleep.  The  first  thing  you 
fellows  know  some  little  fresh-water  college  will  beat 
you,  hands  down.  Eldredge,  why  don't  you  hang 
on  to  that  ball?"  etc.,  etc.  Nevertheless,  Jack  was 
made  half-back  on  the  Varsity  and,  like  Tarbell, 
stayed  there. 

Meanwhile   the   crowd   of   non-combatants   comes 
3  33 


BOYS  AND   MEN 

flocking  in;  some  studying  for  the  evening  recita 
tions,  others  going  over  for  the  hundredth  time  the 
points  of  a  pet  athlete.  Some  men  know,  or  pretend 
to  know,  the  precise  condition  of  everybody  on  the 
Varsity  or  College  teams,  —  how  much  he  loses  in 
perspiration,  whether  he  has  symptoms  of  water  on 
the  knee,  the  girth  of  his  chest,  his  grip,  and  his 
prospects  of  being  elected  to  a  secret  society. 

"What  d'ye  think  of  Freshman  Tarbell?"  asks 
one  youth  of  another. 

^K  "He  's  a  sure  thing,  man;  I  've  got  him  slated  for 
everything  in  sight.  He  has  tons  of  grit  and  is  as 
strong  as  a  young  giraffe.  It 's  dollars  to  doughnuts 
he  goes  to  '  Bones.'  "  The  layman  can  hardly  ima 
gine  what  that  expression  signifies.  To  the  mind  of 
a  Yale  undergraduate  it  means  a  sort  of  half-way 
house  to  heaven. 

"  I  '11  wager  you  even  that  Eldredge  stays  on  the 
team.  That  boy  is  full  of  ginger,  and  he  's  quick 
enough  to  dodge  an  ordinary  thunderbolt.  Good- 
looking  chap,  too,  —  though  I  don't  like  curly  brown 
hair.  What's  his  heft?" 

"  A  hundred  and  sixty- two  with  his  hair  cut.  D'  ye 
know  him?" 

"  Well,  yes,  —  distantly.  I  've  met  his  room-mate, 
Joe  Glenn.  He  's  a  heavyweight.  They  say  he 
knows  more  about  languages  than  anybody  on  the 
Faculty.  He  never  thinks  of  using  a  trot.  I  wonder 
if  any  of  the  Faculty  trot  out  their  translations! 
Well,  day  day,  old  man!  Look  for  me  at  Mory's 
about  ten  p.  x." 

The  Clan  has  no  need  of  going  outside  its  own 
34 


A   RIOT 

boundaries  for  something  to  talk  about.  Its  glories 
are  quite  as  apparent  to  the  undergraduate  as  any 
glories  of  the  outer  world,  and,  in  those  days,  far 
more  absorbing. 

Every  evening  a  band  of  youths  with  time  and  to 
spare  foregathered  in  Tarbell  and  Hudson's  rooms, 
reposing  in  every  place  where  a  man  could  sit  or  lie, 
—  one  of  the  penalties  of  greatness  being  that  a  man's 
admirers,  if  they  don't  worship  at  a  distance,  are 
sure  to  waste  a  great  deal  of  his  time.  About  nine 
o'clock  the  lazy  man  unwillingly  takes  leave  and 
dawdles  mournfully  homeward.  From  nine  to  ten 
he  slaves,  then  he  merely  works,  and  finally  he 
dreams  that  he  is  working.  At  this  psychological 
moment  his  chum,  who  may  be  industrious,  yells, 
"Go  to  bed!"  and  the  next  morning  the  toiling 
youth  wonders  why  he  has  such  a  treacherous 
memory. 

When  the  band  began  to  arrive,  Tarbell  would  bar 
ricade  himself  in  his  bedroom,  and  there  he  studied 
as  if  the  place  had  been  as  quiet  as  a  church  on 
week-days.  The  first  comer  was  usually  one  Robert 
Ballentine,  who  lived  next  to  Eldredge  and  Glenn. 
The  reason  why  Ballentine  came  first  was  clear.  He 
did  all  his  work  in  classroom,  and  therefore  had  noth 
ing  to  bother  him  out  of  hours.  Another  reason  why 
Ballentine  came  early  was  that  if  anything  was  said 
or  done  he  purposed  to  be  on  hand  to  know  it.  Tar 
bell  knew  his  rap,  which  was  confident  but  inoffensive. 

"Hello!  Is  that  you,  Ballentine?  Take  a  seat; 
I  '11  be  out  in  a  while.  I  'm  very  busy  this  evening." 

Then  there  would  be  a  pause  and  another  visitor. 
35 


BOYS  AND  MEN 

"  Come  in !  Good-evening,  Bill.  Mr.  James,  — 
Mr.  Ballentine.  Make  yourselves  at  home;  I  '11  be 
out  in  a  couple  of  hoars." 

"  You  're  getting  to  be  an  incorrigible  grind,  Tarb." 

" I  know  it,  Bill." 

"Besides,  you  are  not  at  all  hospitable." 

"Thanks!     I  say,  Billy!" 

"What '11  you  have?" 

"Open  the  door,  please,  so  as  to  save  guests  the 
trouble  of  knocking." 

Here  is  another  brief  silence ;  then  Ballentine  says, 
"Oh,  Tarbell!  is  it  true  that  Pudge  Sweet  has  a 
game  ankle?" 

"No!" 

There  is  now  a  tramp  of  feet  on  the  broad  wooden 
stairs,  and  the  "guests"  arrive  in  numbers.  A  dis 
cussion  immediately  arises  as  to  whether  it  is  justifi 
able  for  low-stand  men  to  crib  in  order  to  stay  in 
college.  This  knotty  subject  soon  develops  into  a 
discussion  of  morality  in  general,  —  Mr.  Fitzhugh 
Thorndyke  being  of  opinion  that  morality  can  be 
boiled  down  to  "personal  honour,"  while  James  main 
tains  that  it  grows,  "  sometimes  by  the  simple  action 
of  nature,  sometimes  by  cultivation,"  —  an  opinion 
which  Joshua  Drake  declares  to  be  right  in  the  main 
but  loosely  stated.  Thereupon  Ballentine  deftly 
turns  the  conversation  to  University  politics. 

"What  a  fellow  needs,"  observes  Ballentine,  "is  a 
stout  pull.  If  you  haven't  got  a  pull,  your  college 
life  is  dead  sure  to  be  a  fizzle." 

The  youth  lowers  his  voice  slightly,  and  speaks 
with  a  conviction  born  of  personal  experience.  He 

36 


A   RIOT 

has  a  soft,  earnest  manner  to  indicate  belief  in  his 
own  views,  but  watches  his  audience  keenly,  so  as  to 
veer  imperceptibly  into  another  channel  whenever 
anybody's  face  may  suggest  a  rising  hostility. 

"Now,  this  is  how  I  look  at  the  whole  business. 
If  a  man  is  a  big  athlete,  unless  he  makes  an  unmiti 
gated  jay  of  himself,  he  is  absolutely  sure  of  having 
anything  he  wants.  Tarbell,  for  instance,  and 
Eldredge.  Why,  in  two  years  those  men  will  have 
the  whole  University  in  their  pocket!  "  This  infor 
mation  is  imparted  almost  in  a  whisper.  "  But  sup 
pose  that  a  man  is  n't  an  athlete,  —  I  calculate  that 
there  are  only  ninety-nine  connected  with  the  Univer 
sity  teams,  —  what  kind  of  a  chance  has  he  then  of 
being  known?  What  does  debating  amount  to, 
anyway?  In  my  opinion  it's  a  fake.  Did  the  man 
who  virtually  downed  Harvard  last  year  receive  any 
recognition?  Not  on  your  life!  Now,  just  suppose 
a  fellow  has  literary  talent,  —  not  genius,  but  just 
talent.  Well,  he  probably  will  write  and  waste  lots 
of  good  paper  and  ink,  to  say  nothing  of  his  own 
time,  but  how  will  he  come  out?  Nine  times  in  ten 
he  won't  be  able  to  do  the  Yale  style,  and  if  he  tries 
anything  original,  they  '11  be  sure  to  chuck  it  into  the 
basket  marked  'Hell,'  which  is  the  end  of  it.  Isn't 
that  so,  James?" 

"Oh,  I  don't  know,"  says  Billy,  with  a  rising 
inflection. 

"Well,  maybe  it  isn't  entirely  so,"  he  admits; 
"  but  suppose  your  writer  has  the  luck  to  get  his  work 
printed,  ultimately  becomes  an  editor  and  wears  a 
golden  triangle  on  his  chest.  Do  you  imagine  for 

37 


BOYS   AND   MEN 

one  instant  that  that  assures  him  of  social  distinc 
tion?  No,  sir!  What  became  of  McKeever?  He 
went  up  like  a  rocket,  popped  out  a  lot  of  stars,  and 
that  was  the  end  of  McKeever.  Yet  he  was  prob 
ably  one  of  the  greatest  literary  lights  this  University 
ever  produced,  not  excepting  Fenimore  Cooper. 
Now,  my  point  is,  that  if  you  want  to  be  a  high- 
cockalorum,  literature  is  a  damned  shaky  way  of 
going  about  it.  Here  's  Jack  Eldredge ;  I  say,  Jack ! 
What 's  your  opinion  ?  " 

"What  opinion?" 

"Well,  about  making  a  big  success  and  all  that 
sort  of  thing?" 

"Excuse  me;  my  train  is  fully  ten  minutes  late, 
but  you  're  about  right.  Oh,  Tarb !  Are  you  there  ?  " 

"Yes." 

"  Come  over  to  our  house.  My  wife  is  translating 
Demosthenes.  He's  better  than  a  trot." 

"Gosh!  "  said  James,  —  "three  long-haired  grinds 
on  one  floor!  How  can  you  stand  it? " 

"We  wouldn't,"  observed  somebody,  "if  Tarb 
did  n't  make  a  regular  rampart  out  of  his  bedroom 
outfit.  He  has  to  give  us  everything  else." 

"Oh!  Is  that  so?"  said  Tarbell,  looming  into  the 
doorway.  "I  '11  bet  you  boys  a  stick  of  pink  candy 
all  around  that  Eldredge  and  I  can  put  you  all  out 
in  five  minutes,  and  let  Ballentine  lock  the  door  and 
put  the  key  in  his  pocket  before  we  begin." 

"Thanks,"  remarked  Ballentine;  "I  resign  in 
favour  of  Drake." 

"Don't  be  afraid,  Josh,"  said  James;  "I  'm  on  your 
side." 

38 


A   RIOT 

Joshua  locked  the  door,  stuck  the  key  next  his 
skin,  somebody  cried  "Time!"  and  in  a  trice  there 
was  a  scuffle  that  sounded  like  the  din  of  Bedlam. 
There  was  a  whirl  of  unidentifiable  legs,  a  noise  of 
bumping  heads  and  ripping  cloth.  At  the  bottom  of 
the  heap  a  muffled  voice  said,  "  Here  's  the  key,  Jack. 
Open  the  door!  " 

Eldredge  knocked  a  couple  of  heads  together,  piled 
a  tablecloth,  a  heap  of  window  cushions,  and  several 
chairs  on  to  the  squirming  legs,  upset  two  more  of 
the  enemy,  and  opened  the  door  in  a  flash.  An 
instant  later  several  men  went  through  the  door  as 
if  shot  by  a  catapult,  and,  shoulder  to  shoulder, 
Eldredge  and  Tarbell  jammed  the  rest  of  the  panting, 
bedraggled  rioters  out  into  the  wide  corridor. 

Just  then  a  suspicious  step  was  heard  on  the  stairs. 
Ballentine  dodged  discreetly  into  his  closet.  A 
couple  more  made  a  bold  dash  for  the  Campus, 
thereby  having  to  run  the  gauntlet.  Somebody  else 
rushed  back  to  the  scene  of  disorder,  whence  he 
climbed  out  upon  the  gutter  and,  entering  a  friend's 
room,  escaped  by  another  entry,  while  Eldredge, 
Tarbell,  and  James  slipped  swiftly  into  Eldredge's 
apartment.  Just  one  was  too  late,  and  that  was 
Joshua  Drake.  Drake  was  coatless:  his  cravat  was 
screwed  disreputably  over  one  ear,  and  his  trousers 
were  ripped  to  the  suspender  buttons,  showing  the 
original  Joshua  in  several  places.  In  this  array  he 
found  himself  confronted  not  by  the  Campus  watch 
man,  nor  by  a  parietal  functionary,  but  face  to  face 
with  a  pale  young  man  of  stooping  shoulders  and  a 
wry  neck.  This  individual  squinted  awesomely 

39 


BOYS  AND   MEN 

through  his  spectacles,  and  said:  "I  want  you  Fresh 
men  to  restrain  your  childish  emotions.  You  have 
caused  a  piece  of  plaster  to  fall  from  my  ceiling  upon 
an  ink  well.  It  came  dangerously  near  my  head." 

This  said,  he  awaited  no  reply  from  the  abashed 
and  dilapidated  Joshua,  but  betook  himself  again  to 
his  labours.  Drake  borrowed  a  few  pins  wherewith 
to  close  his  exposures,  and  departed,  vowing  by  the 
Great  Horn  Spoon  that  he  'd  be  hanged  if  he  ever 
again  went  into  such  a  rotten  game  either  in  or  out 
of  hours ;  while  the  wily  Odysseus  Ballentine  stayed 
in  his  closet  an  hour  or  more,  until  his  room-mate 
came  and  asked  what  the  deuce  he  was  doing  there. 
Whereupon  the  fellow  declared  that  there  had  been  a 
terrific  scrimmage  (for  the  truth  of  which  one  empur 
pled  eye  bore  witness),  that  two  members  of  the 
Faculty  had  suddenly  appeared  and  probably  caught 
everybody  except  himself. 

"James,  you  look  like  a  ruffian,"  said  Eldredge, 
laughing.  "  Tarb,  you  ought  to  give  William  a  cent 
to  buy  a  stick  of  pink  candy  to  console  him.  Go 
home,  William,  and  in  future  keep  away  from  buzz 
saws  and  bad  company.  Brute  force  is  evidently  not 
in  your  line.  I  did  n't  catch  sight  of  you  once  during 
the  battle." 

"  No.  Tarb  sat  on  my  head,  which  prevented  me 
from  being  of  any  use ;  but  my  nose  feels  like  a  half- 
peeled  banana.  Good-night,  boys.  Please  don't  say 
I  called!" 

That  entry,  which  is  next  to  another  called  Hell 
Entry,  which  is  next  to  the  University  Chapel,  was 
once  more  as  quiet  as  the  stairs  of  a  monastery. 

40 


A   RIOT 

Glenn,  who  would  hardly  have  budged  for  an  earth 
quake,  was  sitting  in  his  pajamas,  following  intently 
the  antics  of  various  Ancients  as  set  forth  by  the 
deathless  Demosthenes. 

"Hope  we  didn't  disturb  you,"  remarked  Tarbell. 
"  Jack  and  I  needed  a  little  exercise  to  make  us  sleep. 
Did  you  hear  any  sickening  thuds?" 

Whereupon  Glenn  observed:  "You  men  look 
slightly  rumpled,  but  otherwise  respectable.  How 
the  dickens  did  you  keep  clean?" 

"It's  this  way,"  replied  Tarbell:  "we  avoided 
getting  dirty  by  wiping  up  the  floor  with  the  other 
fellows." 

Then  Tarbell  and  Eldredge  got  their  books,  and 
Glenn  read  old  Demosthenes  into  smooth,  unconven 
tional  English,  here  and  there  stopping  to  give  the 
principal  parts  of  a  verb  or  to  make  some  humorous 
comment,  till  the  college  clock  boomed  out  the  ten 
heavy  strokes  which  send  Yale's  great  athletes  to 
their  perforated  couches  —  Tprjrois 


IV 

HIGHER  THINGS 

THE  giant  elms  were  for  the  hundredth  season 
dropping  their  withered  leaves.  Looking  out 
of  their  high  windows,  Glenn  and  Eldredge  could 
plainly  see  the  Colonial  Meeting-houses  on  the  Green, 
and,  farther  away,  the  City  Hall,  with  its  illuminated 
clock-face,  and  even  the  Town  Pump  under  the  Ben 
Franklin  Elm.  Then  came  Thanksgiving,  with  the 
great  game  between  Yale  and  her  historic  rival.  It 
was  an  unusually  harmless  combat.  Tarbell  got  out 
of  it  unscathed;  Eldredge  sacrificed  a  collar-bone  to 
the  University's  honour.  This  happened  before  the 
game,  but  a  surgeon  patched  the  thing,  and  the 
"Yale  Daily  News"  announced  to  its  hundreds  of 
anxious  readers  that  "though  the  left  halfback  had 
suffered  a  bruise,  it  was  hardly  thought  that  the  Uni 
versity  would  be  put  to  serious  inconvenience ; "  so 
Jack  played  with  a  wad  on  his  shoulder,  and  nothing 
inside  him  rebelled  till  after  the  match.  Then,  of 
course,  it  made  no  difference. 

At  Christmas  the  Eldredges  bade  James  and  Tar- 
bell  and  Glenn  to  a  house  party  at  The  Oaks.  Close- 
mouthed  or  modestly  evasive  about  his  own  affairs, 
Jack  had  said  so  little  about  his  family  or  his  home 
that  his  college  friends  had  been  nearly  in  the  dark 
until  they  came  to  The  Oaks  and  learnt  for  themselves. 

42 


HIGHER  THINGS 

Mr.  Eldredge  they  found  to  be  an  affable  man  of 
much  homely  mother  wit,  who  smoked  incessantly 
and  seemed  to  have  no  desire  to  impress  anybody 
with  the  fact  that  he  was  president  of  a  great  railway. 
As  for  Mrs.  Eldredge,  she  was  the  loveliest  of  her 
kind,  brimming  with  a  motherliness  which  made  her 
son's  friends  at  once  her  own;  mindful  of  all  ways  of 
adding  to  their  pleasure,  and  ready  to  do  anything 
within  the  conscience  of  a  saint  for  the  greater  glory 
of  Jack,  whose  virtues  she  adored  and  magnified  in 
silence.  Oak-trees  sheltered  the  fine  colonial  mansion 
which  Mr.  Eldredge  had  bought  from  the  last  of 
three  well-born  but  impoverished  sisters,  at  a  valu 
ation  not  depreciated  on  his  part  by  her  necessity. 
The  handsome,  old-fashioned  furniture  was  purchased 
with  the  place,  and  thus  some  choice  heirlooms,  a 
venerable  grandfather  clock,  various  prim  mahogany 
chairs,  a  spinet,  and  a  hundred  other  fine  old  things 
with  a  history  passed  honourably  to  the  house  of 
Eldredge.  These  possessions  the  Eldredges  cherished, 
with  none  of  the  pretensions  so  likely  to  be  found  in 
persons  "whose  origin  is  lost  in  an  obscurity  not 
remote."  It  was  a  home  like  the  character  of  our 
forefathers,  solid  and  simple,  a  rebuke  to  the  flimsy 
vulgarity  of  many  pretentious  houses  of  these  upstart 
days.  There  was  a  roomy  piazza  with  a  wintry  view 
of  the  sea  far  off  through  the  trees,  a  spacious  lawn, 
and  a  stone-walled  road  beyond,  —  a  delightful  ram 
bling  road,  built,  no  doubt,  in  the  days  when  kine 
were  the  chief  surveyors.  In  a  word,  it  was  all  very 
beautiful,  and  its  owners  loved  it,  and  it  was  their 
home. 

43 


BOYS  AND   MEN 

After  Christmas  holidays  came  that  great  dance 
called  the  Junior  Promenade,  —  a  festivity  which 
may  lead  young  men  from  Texas  to  lay  their  alle 
giance  at  the  feet  of  Maine.  It  is  a  scene  where 
every  fashion  flaunts  in  cosmopolitan  union.  In 
those  days  freshmen  bought  tickets  but  were  taught 
to  stay  at  home.  So  Eldredge  and  Tarbell  and 
James  went  to  the  Glee  Club  Concert,  where  naughty 
little  boys  sit  in  the  loft  and  throw  placards,  or  let 
down  foolish  screens  upon  the  stage.  This  was  and 
still  is  a  tradition  dear  to  the  freshman  heart. 
Seniors  are  posted  in  the  gallery  to  control  this 
ebullition  of  youthful  gayety,  but  they  inspire  no 
fear  because  they  will  soon  be  gone,  and  the  guests 
speak  of  it  as  a  "  curious  custom,"  even  going  so  far 
as  guilelessly  to  ask  its  origin.  Joe  Glenn  thrummed 
skilfully  the  guitar  and  sang  songs  which  stirred  new 
emotions  in  many  a  bosom.  One  of  these  was  com 
posed  by  James,  who  lived  in  Delaware.  Here  it  is, 
with  the  original  title,  —  "  Afro-American  Ballad." 

Who 's  all  dem  Lees  an'  Skinnahs 
A-puttin'  on  such  style  ? 
Go  'long,  trash  !  an*  sinnahs, 
You  boun*  t'  make  me  smile. 

An'rew  wuks  at  collige 
(Gwine  to  quit  it  soon)  ; 
I  tell  you  An'rew  Jackson 
'  S  no  awdina'y  coon ! 

You  'd  ought  t'  see  me  Sundy 
Wid  Miss  Hetty  Lisa  Brown ; 
Oh,  hit  takes  a  pint  o*  hai'  oil 
But  I  make  dat  hai'  lay  down  I 
44 


HIGHER  THINGS 

Um,  um,  chiTn,  can't  he'p  it ! 
Was  bawn  wid  silver  spoon  ; 
Jes'  recolleck  dat  Jackson 
'S  no  awdina'y  coon  ! 

These  gaieties  are  soon  over  and  the  guests 
scatter,  but  if  one  could  pry  into  the  histoire  intime 
of  those  few  days  enough  material  might  be  brought 
to  light  to  keep  story-writers  going  for  years.  All 
this  happens  once  in  a  twelvemonth  and  has  consid 
erable  bearing  on  the  lives  of  a  few  people.  For 
Eldredge  and  his  friends  it  meant  nothing  except  an 
occasion  to  show  good  manners  by  being  absent. 

The  depleted  Gourmets  were  once  more  in  pano 
ply.  Tarbell  was  too  big  to  train  for  the  Crew,  and 
Eldredge  had  a  bad  shoulder.  It  was  now  midwinter, 
and  in  the  short  afternoons  scores  upon  scores  of 
skaters,  clad  each  in  two  or  three  sweaters,  played 
hockey  on  Lake  Whitney.  Tarbell  kept  goal  as 
effectively  as  if  he  had  been  a  pair  of  folding  doors. 
Jack  could  skate  like  a  Flying  Dutchman.  When 
ever  the  ball  seemed  to  be  slipping  away  from  him 
he  would  run  on  his  steel  toes  just  as  if  he  had  been 
on  a  football  field,  and  then  it  was  a  pleasure  to  see 
him,  followed  by  the  Gourmets'  other  champions, 
zigzagging  the  ball  toward  the  enemy's  goal  —  now 
holding  it  between  his  skates  —  now  suddenly 
straight  back  toward  the  home  goal  —  and  making 
mere  spectators  of  his  classmates  until  he  had 
nursed  it  in  a  long  curve  and  by  some  dexterous 
manoeuvres  sent  it  spinning  through  the  very  legs  of 
the  opposing  goal-keeper. 

During  these  days  Mrs.  Jones,  the  landlady,  made 
45 


BOYS  AND   MEN 

no  money.  Another  remarkable  fact  was  that  every 
one  worked  hard,  —  even  Colonel  Fitzhugh  and  W. 
James.  Every  one  knew  that  the  Colonel  was  work 
ing,  because  he  borrowed  everybody's  trots,  in  or 
der,  as  he  said,  to  give  a  little  more  polish  to  his 
translations. 

"  I  don't  see  the  use,"  said  the  Colonel,  with  his 
soft,  Southern  accent,  "  and  I  'm  more  and  more 
inclined  to  believe  that  putterin'  over  dictionaries 
takes  all  the  life  out  of  classical  study.  If  a  man 
spends  so  much  valuable  time  in  mere  labour,  he  's 
just  bound  to  lose  in  elegance  what  he  gains  in 
erudition." 

"  Hear !  hear ! "  said  James.  "  Them 's  my  senti 
ments  !  Go  on,  Colonel !  " 

"Well,  sir,"  continued  the  Colonel,  "what  gives 
an  air  of  refinement  to  university  graduates  is  appre 
ciation  of  letters  and  fine  arts.  If  there  's  one  thing 
that  lends  distinction  to  education  in  the  South,  it 's 
more  or  less  the  complete  absence  of  drudgery.  In 
my  opinion,  gentlemen,  the  North  has  yet  to  learn 
the  precise  meanin'  of  the  word  *  university/  Like 
the  word  'gentleman,'  'university'  has  various 
acceptations." 

"  What 's  yours  ?  "  asked  Tarbell,  with  a  deep  and 
genuine  interest. 

"In  the  first  place,"  continued  Mr.  Thorndyke, 
"  I  should  do  away  with  all  examinations.  There  's 
a  growin'  sentiment  in  favour  of  just  such  action  in 
many  parts  of  the  South.  The  minute  you  've 
broken  down  these  barriers  education  becomes  more 
general,  and  a  deeper  culture  pervades  the  whole 

46 


HIGHER  THINGS 

mass  of  the  population.  Say,  James,  will  you  kindly 
len'  me  a  cigarette  ?  Mine  have  run  out  and  I 
have  n't  had  occasion  to  get  any." 

"  Sorry,"  said  James,  "  I  gave  you  my  last  this 
morning  and  I  've  sworn  off.  So  I  have  n't  a  cig., 
Colonel" 

"  No,  you  don't  mean  it ! "  exclaimed  Thorndyke. 
"  This  is  only  one  of  your  freaks,  is  n't  it  ?  " 

"  No,  it 's  dead  earnest,  Colonel.  I  asked  the  doc 
tor  if  he  thought  smoking  was  injurious  and  he  said 
yes.  He  says  there  is  a  slight  blur  in  my  eyesight, 
caused  either  by  smoking  or  by  excess  of  work." 

"  You  undoubtedly  struck  the  right  explanation," 
remarked  Eldredge.  "  Is  there  anything  else  to  pay, 
Jimmie  ?  " 

"  No,  sir !  The  doctor  says  I  'm  otherwise  physi 
cally  perfect.  My  solar  plexus  is  just  the  right 
height  from  the  ground,  and  my  lumbar  region  is 
blooming.  I  say,  Josh  !  Will  you  kindly  but  firmly 
pass  me  the  butter  ?  Thanks  !  Now,  Annie,"  to  the 
small  coloured  girl  who  helped  Mrs.  Jones,  "if  you 
will  just  request  the  hen  to  lay  another  omelet,  I 
shall  be  grateful  to  both  of  you." 

"  Speaking  of  choice  language,"  said  Glenn,  "  how 
is  your  literary  style  progressing,  William  ?  " 

"  It  grows  rottener  day  by  day,  Joe.  I  've  tried 
everything  from  Kipling  to  Maeterlinck  —  yes,  even 
that  —  but  it 's  no  go.  I  'm  looking  over  a  lot  of  old 
4  Lit.'  magazines  now,  in  hope  of  being  able  to  grasp 
what  is  meant  by  the  c  Lit.  style,'  but  I  fear  that 's  a 
pure  fake." 

"  Why  don't  you  say  so  then  ? "  said  Tarbell. 
47 


BOYS  AND   MEN 

"  Just  write  a  tearing  article,  rub  it  into  everybody 
and  let  'em  know  exactly  what  you  consider  good 
literary  form." 

"Or  give  it  up ! "  quoth  Eldredge. 

"  Not  on  your  tintype ! "  replied  James,  hotly. 
"  I  'm  determined  that  there  shall  be  some  evidences 
of  intellect  in  the  Gourmets'  Club,  and  I  'm  going  to 
keep  at  it  until  I  show  those  confounded  editors  that 
I  can  write." 

"  James,  you  're  a  gentleman  I  "  said  Colonel  Fitz- 
hugh;  "I  like  your  independence.  Permit  me  to 
grasp  your  hand." 

"  Me  too,  William  !  "  cried  Glenn,  reaching  almost 
three  feet  of  arm  across  the  table  to  James.  "  When 
the  day  of  glory  comes,  don't  forget  that  I  encouraged 
you.  Young  authors  always  have  had  somebody  to 
back  them  when  the  world  was  cold;  so,  courage, 
Billy!  Don't  mind  Jack;  he  worships  the  body. 
The  '  Yale  Lit '  is  stored  away  in  the  British  Museum, 
which  is  a  regular  subscriber  to  that  Oldest  Extant 
Monthly,  and  some  day  we  intellectual  people  — 
that  is,  you  and  me  and  the  Colonel  —  will  be  stuck 
in  niches  with  little  bronze  tags  to  tell  how  great  we 
were.  Thus:  William  James,  born  at  Wilmington, 
Delaware,  1873.  Died  in  such  and  such  a  year, 
having  enriched  the  world  with  the  wealth  of  mind. 
He  was  a  faithful  student." 

"  Thanks,  Joe ;  I  '11  write  a  book  with  you  as  the 
top  hero,  and  Jack  and  Tarb  will  do  the  minor  roles. 
They  '11  be  grex." 

Tarbell  laughed  with  the  rest,  but,  though  Eldredge 
looked  pleasant  enough,  a  passing  thought  cast  its 

48 


HIGHER  THINGS 

shadow  on  his  face  and  he  turned  a  little  red. 
Tarbell  remarked  this  psychological  display,  but  he 
distracted  attention  from  Billy's  romance  by  saying : 
44  You  're  very  thoughtful,  Jamesie,  my  boy,  and,  if 
you  please,  I  '11  get  Ballentine  to  boom  you.  Boom 
ing  is  his  strong  point.  His  latest  scheme  is  a  gem." 

"  What  is  it,  Tarb  ?  "  inquired  one  of  the  party  who 
had  a  way  of  keeping  silent  until  he  got  a  chance  to 
ask  some  question.  Every  member  of  the  Gour 
mets  turned  toward  Tarbell.  Colonel  Fitzhugh  had 
succeeded  in  borrowing  a  cigarette,  which  he  now 
lighted,  keeping  one  eye  on  the  match  and  one  on 
the  speaker. 

"  It 's  this  way,"  began  the  Arizona  man.  "  You 
know  Ballentine?" 

"  Slightly,"  said  Eldredge. 

"  Well,  he  was  in  my  place  one  day,  telling  me  how 
to  'get  there'  in  college  as  well  as  everywhere  else." 

"  Do  you  mean  the  night  I  tore  my  jeans  ?  "  inter 
rupted  Drake. 

Three  or  four  yelled,  "  Shut  up,  Josh ;  you  've 
missed  your  train ! "  and  Tarbell  resumed  his  tale. 

"  One  thing  Ballentine  said  struck  me  particularly. 
He  was  giving  me  points  on  popularity,  and  I  in 
quired  how  you  could  know  a  man  was  popular. 
4  One  way,'  according  to  him,  '  is  that  men  call  up  to 
your  window.  f'll  give  you  a  straight  tip,'  said 
Bal.  4  There  is  n't  a  better  way  of  getting  prominence 
than  to  have  people  yelling  your  name,  especially  if 
it 's  a  name  with  lots  of  vowels  in  it,  like  Mallory,  or 
Pomeroy,  or  something  of  that  kind.'  Well,  one 
night  I  heard  somebody  shouting  for  Ballentine.  He 
4  49 


BOYS  AND   MEN 

didn't  seem  to  hear,  so  I  went  into  his  room.  Door 
was  open,  and  gas  full  on,  but  no  Ballentine.  The 
man  on  the  Campus  kept  yelling,  '  Oh,  Bob  Ballen 
tine  !  Oh,  Bob  Bal-len-tine ! '  So  I  just  slipped 
downstairs  and  out  on  to  the  Quadrangle.  I  could 
see  somebody  standing  in  the  shadow,  but  he  could  n't 
see  me.  When  he  yelled, '  Oh,  Bob  Ballentine,'  again, 
I  nabbed  him  and  said,  '  Can't  you  see  your  friend 's 
gone  out?'  Of  course  he  will  do  anything  for  me 
now.  If  any  of  you  people  want  a  boomer,  see  me 
aod  I  will  arrange  with  him." 

"Who  was  it,  Tarb?"  asked  Joshua. 

At  this  there  was  an  uproar  of  derisive  shouts  which 
ended  in  Joshua's  being  enthusiastically  escorted  into 
the  street,  where  he  was  borne  in  triumph  to  a  deep 
snowbank  and  there  ensconced  head  down.  A  few 
snowballs  were  thrown,  one  of  which  hit  a  policeman 
who  threatened  to  "  run  everybody  in ; "  but  everybody 
disappeared  with  great  swiftness,  leaving  Drake  to 
settle  with  the  policeman. 


50 


TOIL  AND  POLITICS 

WINTER  in  New  Haven  is  a  sloppy  old  codger 
who  goes  about  in  rubber  boots  and  carries  an 
umbrella.  He  is  an  intruder  and  stays  too  long,  but 
he  does  some  good  on  the  sly.  During  the  three 
months  of  his  visit  everybody  works,  or,  at  all  events, 
everybody  thinks  that  he  ought  to  be  working, 
which  is  a  feeling  that  tickles  one's  sense  of  moral 
obligation  even  if  it  does  n't  lead  to  anything.  That 
word  "work"  has  been  wofully  perverted  by  lazy 
people  who  have  given  it  a  twist  of  their  own,  so  that 
instead  of  implying  a  pleasurable  activity  it  means  for 
them  dire  and,  if  they  be  young,  unnecessary  drudgery. 
It  means  vexatious  plodding  by  late-burning  lamps, 
when  a  fellow  is  so  weary  that  he  hardly  knows  the 
difference  between  a  parallelepiped  and  a  digamma ; 
it  means  a  forced  absorption  by  the  intellectual 
stomach  of  things  repugnant  to  every  sense  of  inborn 
and  inalienable  rights.  In  good  sooth  how  utterly  to 
be  pitied  is  he  whom  the  world  has  dubbed  a  grind ! 
If  Fame  speak  truly,  he  has  long  hair  and  a  stooping 
gait ;  he  is  of  sallow  hue,  and  wears  thick  glasses  on 
a  thin  and  querulous  nose.  He  toils  simply  because 
he  listeth,  and  when  he  has  gained  knowledge  stores 
it  away  in  crannies  whence  it  will  never  issue  more. 
To  him  the  seasons  make  no  difference.  He  sees  no 

51 


BOYS  AND  MEN 

mirth  in  the  joy  of  others,  but  counts  their  pleasures 
foolishness.  Happy  he  who  can  do  without  knowl 
edge,  or  acquire  it  without  pain ! 

How  can  any  one  who  has  not  gone  through  it  know 
the  suffering  of  a  dreamer  like  James  ?  Had  it  not 
been  for  the  angel  of  Beauty  luring  him  on  before,  and 
the  imp  of  Conscience  scourging  him  behind,  he  might 
have  settled  down  into  the  silken  cushions  and 
smoked  and  read  and  dreamed  until  the  day  of 
reckoning  came.  Instead  of  that  he  choked  down 
the  required  studies,  and  relieved  his  spleen  by  curs 
ing  their  originators  both  silently  and  aloud. 

Ballentine,  who  had  only  a  rudimentary  conscience, 
managed  otherwise.  By  the  judicious  exploitation  of 
other  men's  labours,  by  copying  their  work  and  crib 
bing  in  a  masterly  manner,  by  lying  to  the  Faculty, 
and  by  cheating  himself  in  every  way  his  ingenuity 
could  devise,  he  clung  to  the  ship,  and  survived  to 
have  a  part  in  this  tale. 

Glenn  had  gifts  that  were  astonishing.  Had  he 
met  Cicero  upon  the  street,  he  could  have  startled 
that  voluble  gentleman.  He  could  have  been  a  boon 
companion  to  Socrates,  and  given  Euclid  points  about 
the  Fourth  Dimension.  No  one  ever  knew  where  he 
got  his  learning,  but  every  one  believed  that  Joe  was 
a  great  man.  That  was  because  he  conversed  with 
all  the  Arts  and  Sciences  on  such  free-and-easy  terms. 
When  he  rose  in  classroom  to  recite,  he  had  the  air  of 
one  who  is  about  to  flunk,  but  somehow  he  never  did, 
and  after  a  few  preliminary  drawls  would  acquit 
himself  so  gracefully  of  his  knowledge  as  to  make  the 
lazy  men  count  him  a  freak,  —  in  a  complimentary 

52 


TOIL   AND   POLITICS 

sense,  of  course.  Time  and  again  poor  Billy  would 
come  to  Glenn's  room  in  an  agony  over  some  vile 
trigonometrical  riddle,  and  while  he  cursed  the  "sys 
tem  "  Glenn  would  explain  away  the  difficulty  and 
soothe  him  with  the  prospect  of  being  rid  of  the  stuff 
at  the  end  of  another  year. 

Eldredge  had  received  thorough  preparation  and, 
with  the  hours  for  study  that  he  could  sandwich 
between  his  avocations,  stood  respectably.  As  for 
Tarbell,  he  worked  tremendously,  grasping  every 
opportunity  to  offset  the  rude  life  he  had  led  through 
his  adventurous  boyhood.  Tarbell  seemed  to  learn 
by  brute  force.  He  continued  to  barricade  himself 
in  his  bedroom,  and  occasionally  ejected  in  a  jovial 
but  not  the  less  effective  manner  some  particularly 
irksome  customer. 

Dull  February  and  sloppy  March  wore  by,  and  the 
heaps  of  filthy  snow  which  the  City  Fathers  each 
winter  cause  to  be  dumped  upon  the  venerable 
Green,  began  slowly  to  thaw  away.  And  then  came 
those  delicious  demoralizing  months  of  April  and 
May,  with  the  odours  of  a  freshly  budding  world. 
That  is  the  time  when  one's  mind  —  especially  if 
one  is  not  yet  two-and-twenty  —  is  overcome  with  a 
desire  to  change  thoughts  into  lazy  musings  that 
have  no  beginning  and  no  end,  when  one  envies  the 
very  cattle  as  they  lie  blinking  in  the  fields.  It  is 
also  the  season  when  contemplation  assumes  a 
vaguely  rhythmic  form,  and  ideas  drift  in  a  haze 
through  well-nigh  useless  brains. 

How  tempting  it  is  then  to  toss  all  science  upon 
the  floor,  and  lie  at  one's  window  somewhere  along 

53 


BOYS  AND   MEN 

the  northern  end  of  the  Quadrangle,  watching  the 
other  idlers  as  they  come  and  go  !  They  stroll  down 
the  long  walks  beneath  the  elms  with  their  hands  on 
one  another's  shoulders,  as  if  they  had  nothing  in  the 
world  to  concern  them  —  and  that  is  almost  true. 
Certainly  few  of  these  youths  are  bothered  with  their 
studies.  They  become  a  secondary  consideration,  the 
main  one  being  to  get  the  greatest  possible  pleasure 
out  of  life  with  the  least  possible  effort.  Those  who 
toil,  and  they  are  the  majority,  keep  to  their  rooms. 

Just  as  the  ancient  Greeks  had  their  Agora,  or 
town  square,  where  they  met  to  discuss  life's  prob 
lems,  leaving  the  physical  side  of  things  to  their 
slaves,  so  the  Quadrangle  is  the  meeting-place  of 
Yale.  Here  her  easiest-going  denizens  are  wont  to 
congregate,  and,  perched  the  whole  length  of  the  im 
mortal  Fence,  to  while  away  the  evenings  of  autumn, 
spring,  and  summer,  cracking  jests  as  venerable  for 
the  most  part  as  the  University  itself,  or  wearing 
their  brains  over  the  coming  elections  to  senior 
secret  societies.  There  is  a  topic  of  absorbing,  per 
ennial  interest !  To  outsiders  it  means  nothing  ;  and 
it  means  very  little  to  the  men  who  have  left  the 
fold  and  been  elbowed  by  the  world.  But  to  under 
graduates  it  is  a  matter  of  terrible  importance.  Some 
of  them  think  of  nothing  else,  and  spend  their  days 
in  small  diplomacy  or  calculating  the  chances  of  other 
men.  Every  possible  candidate  is  anatomized  a 
thousand  times.  If  So-and-So  is  seen  walking  with 
What's-his-name,  straightway  the  occurrence  is  noted, 
and  these  youthful  politicians  fall  to  wondering 
whether  the  person  in  question  has  hurt  or  bettered 

54 


TOIL   AND   POLITICS 

his  chances.  Every  list  is  revised  and  the  whole 
situation  is  again  discussed  with  reference  to  the 
latest  change.  Perhaps  America's  chief  school  of 
diplomacy  meets  by  the  Yale  Fence.  At  all  events, 
it  is  a  nursery  for  wire-pullers.  You  may  see  them 
any  hour  in  late  April  or  May,  gathered  in  twos  and 
threes  a  little  aloof  from  the  mirthful  crowd,  hatching 
with  great  seriousness  plans  which  to  them  have  an 
almost  tragic  importance.  This  seems  ludicrous  to 
you  and  me  now,  but  perhaps  there  was  a  time  when 
the  matter  wore  quite  another  face,  and  we  would 
almost  have  bartered  our  souls  for  the  badges  that 
make  men  better  than  they  are. 

When  two  men  stand  upon  a  like  footing,  one  of 
them  is  usually  sure  to  wish  he  were  a  bit  higher 
than  the  other.  Ambition  kills  equality.  It  is  not 
so  much  the  badge  of  distinction  as  it  is  a  sense  that 
one's  merits  will  be  recognized  which  spurs  to  the 
struggle  for  honours.  The  rivalry  created  by  the  de 
sire  to  assert  one's  self  begins  in  early  childhood  and 
never  ends.  The  honour  itself  is  purely  relative. 
What  angel  but  would  fain  be  St.  Peter  and  wear 
at  his  girdle  the  Bunch  of  Keys  !  It  is  notorious, 
also,  that  there  is  a  biggest  toad  in  every  puddle. 

The  truth  of  this  being  granted,  one  no  longer 
wonders  why  a  Yale  undergraduate  should  set  such 
store  by  secret  societies.  In  the  first  place  they  are 
secret,  therefore  awe-inspiring.  In  the  second  place 
they  are  limited  in  membership  to  a  small  fraction  of 
each  class.  Hence,  if  you  are  among  the  chosen,  you 
cannot  help  feeling  that  others  have  regarded  you  as 
superior  to  your  fellows,  even  if  you  are  modest 

55 


BOYS  AND   MEN 

enough  yourself  to  believe  that  the  assumption  is 
untrue. 

Each  year  of  college  life,  except  the  first,  has  its 
particular  societies.  So  each  year  has  its  struggle 
in  which  the  prepotent  survive  socially.  That  is 
why  there  are  wire-pullers.  That  is  also  why  some 
heads  are  very  sore  at  the  end  of  junior  year,  when 
they  have  learned  that  whatever  other  qualifications 
they  may  have  they  have  not  such  as  gain  this 
distinction. 

There  are  many  secret  heartaches,  mingled  some 
times  with  a  disappointment  so  keen  that  men  other 
wise  strong  and  thoughtful  enough  have  been  known 
to  declare  that  they  looked  upon  their  whole  univer 
sity  life  as  a  failure  because  they  had  missed  the 
coveted  place.  Incredible  as  it  may  seem,  there  are 
some  whose  almost  single  occupation  during  their 
college  life  is  the  effort  to  secure  a  badge  which  shall 
be  a  token  to  the  rest  of  their  little  world  that  they 
have  succeeded. 


56 


VI 

> 

JACK   WRITES  A  LETTER 

IT  was  the  last  Sunday  in  May,  one  of  those  days 
when  the  climate  of  the  New  England  coast 
steams  you  until  your  whole  body  is  a  warm,  wet 
rag.  If  you  move,  your  temperature  rises  straight 
way  several  degrees  and  you  are  forced  to  sit  still 
until  evening  to  get  back  your  strength.  On  such 
days  the  Quadrangle  appears  deserted.  Excessive 
heat  is  the  only  thing  that  will  make  the  Campus 
perfectly  still. 

Sunday  was  the  time  that  Jack  Eldredge  chose 
for  his  correspondence,  —  not  that  he  had  nerves  or 
needed  quiet  to  think,  but  simply  because  he  looked 
upon  the  Sabbath  as  having  been  originally  assigned 
by  the  Creator  to  church-going  and  letter-writing. 
Moreover,  there  was  no  one  about  to  bother.  So, 
having  divested  himself  of  all  but  two  garments,  and 
having  splashed  water  on  his  naked  parts,  he  sat 
down  at  his  desk,  chewed  the  tip  of  a  penholder  in 
a  five-minute  coagulation  of  ideas,  and  wrote  this 
letter : 

YALE  COLLEGE,  May  29,  1892. 

DEAR  FAMILY,  —  As  I  sit  here  in  the  top  storey  of 
Farnam  this  frightfully  hot  afternoon,  I  can  imagine 
you  on  the  piazza  at  home  enjoying  the  sea-breeze,  and 
it  makes  me  wish  the  year  were  ended.  Two  weeks 

57 


BOYS   AND   MEN 

from  now  our  final  examinations  begin.  They  take 
about  a  fortnight.  I  am  going  to  New  London  to  see 
the  boat-race  in  Van  Rensselaer's  launch.  Van  is  in  my 
class  and  is  president  of  the  Freshman  Navy.  The 
launch  belongs  to  his  father. 

This  year  has  been  all  I  could  desire.  I  've  made  lots 
of  friends  —  the  best  I  ever  had  —  and  it  seems  as  if 
everything  had  come  my  way.  Getting  on  the  Eleven 
probably  helped  me  somewhat,  and  I  have  n't  been  obliged 
to  pull  any  wires.  You  know  I  was  only  talking  in  fun 
that  day  before  I  left  The  Oaks  to  come  to  Yale.  There 
are  lots  of  wire-pullers  here,  but  most  of  them  make  a 
flat  failure  of  it,  partly  because  they  don't  know  how, 
and  partly  because  they  have  to  keep  it  up  so  long  that 
everybody  catches  on,  and,  when  the  time  comes,  they 
discover  that  they  have  blown  their  horns  too  much.  In 
my  opinion  a  fellow  who  has  n't  anything  in  him  does  n't 
deserve  to  succeed.  That 's  the  Yale  idea.  Of  course 
it  makes  lots  of  soreheads. 

Last  week  I  joined  one  of  the  Sophomore  Societies. 
They  are  secret,  so  I  cannot  tell  you  anything  about  it. 
They  are  not  recognized  by  the  Faculty,  but  everybody 
knows  they  exist,  and  some  fellows  would  give  their  souls 
or  anything  else  to  get  in.  Tarbell  belongs  to  the  same 
one  as  I  do,  and  so  does  Joe,  but  poor  Billy  was  left  out. 
I  used  my  influence  to  get  him  in,  but  there  are  some 
fellows  in  the  Sophomore  class  that  don't  like  him,  and 
in  mine  too.  I  tell  you  in  the  strictest  confidence  that 
I  think  it 's  a  shame.  James  is  our  Fence  Orator,  which 
is  a  big  honour.  He  will  roast  the  big  men  in  the  Soph 
omore  class  and  tell  some  rattling  stories.  The  Fence 
oration  takes  place  in  front  of  Durfee,  near  the  Oak. 
First  the  Sophomore  mounts  a  platform  built  over  the 
Fence,  and  scores  all  the  queer  fellows  in  the  Freshman 

58 


JACK   WRITES   A   LETTER 

class.  Budson,  whom  I  told  you  about  at  Easter,  will 
get  it  hot  and  heavy.  Then  he  springs  some  fine  rhetoric 
about  historic  associations  and  intrusts  the  Fence  to  our 
care.  The  Freshman  Orator  replies,  and  after  having 
his  fun  he  says  some  nice  things  about  the  democratic 
spirit,  and  tells  how  grateful  we  are  to  have  the  privilege 
of  sitting  on  the  Fence.  The  Sophomore  Orator  is  a  very 
witty  man.  He  's  on  the  "  Record,"  which  is,  as  you 
know,  Yale's  funny  paper.  I  '11  send  you  a  copy  of  the 
"Xews  "  containing  the  two  speeches. 

James  is  such  a  strange  chap  that  it 's  hard  even  for 
me  to  tell  whether  he  is  much  disappointed  at  having 
missed  an  election.  He  told  Tarb  that  they  could  go 
"  plumb  to  "  for  all  he  cared.  Just  the  same,  I  think  he 
feels  pretty  bad  about  it,  and  I  'm  going  to  try  hard  to 
see  he  conies  out  all  right  when  our  class  is  up  for  the 
Senior  Societies.  Next  year  about  sixty  of  us  —  I  mean 
of  '95  —  will  be  initiated  into  Junior  Societies.  That 
(between  ourselves)  does  n't  amount  to  a  hill  of  beans. 
Almost  everybody  who  has  done  anything  gets  an  elec 
tion  —  and  a  good  many  who  have  not.  Sophomore 
Society  men  never  miss  it,  but  some  of  them  get  a  hor 
ribly  disappointing  jolt  when  it  comes  to  the  tapping  for 
the  three  Senior  Societies. 

I  don't  suppose  you  care  so  much  for  these  things  as 
we  do.  A  man  has  to  be  here  awhile  before  he  sees 
what  it  means.  Then  everybody  but  a  few  useless 
chumps  who  take  no  part  in  college  life  learns  all  about 
it ;  and  there  are  some  fellows  who  actually  spend  their 
whole  time  trying  to  put  this  final  feather  into  their 
nests.  It  is  commonly  believed  here  in  college  that  a 
Senior  Society  man  has  much  better  chances  in  after  life, 
because  he  will  get  fine  opportunities  in  business  and  be 
able  to  go  into  the  swellest  society  in  every  big  city  in 

59 


BOYS   AND   MEN 

the  country.  But  Joe  Glenn's  father,  who  belonged  to 
the  best  Senior  Society,  has  told  Joe  that  he  would  n't 
take  a  man  of  his  Society  into  his  firm  under  any  cir 
cumstances. 

I  've  worked  for  the  Faculty  pretty  steadily  through 
out  the  year  —  though,  I  must  say,  I  could  n't  do  much 
during  the  football  season.  I  was  so  tired  nearly  every 
night  then  that  I  had  to  go  to  bed  about  nine  o'clock  ; 
but  I  stand  above  the  middle  of  the  class.  Joe  is  said 
to  be  the  highest-stand  man — though  the  Faculty  keep 
these  things  to  themselves.  I  sometimes  wish  I  could 
trade  off  a  little  of  my  muscle  for  some  of  Joe's  brains. 
By  the  way,  Joe  intends  to  bring  his  sister  Margaret  here 
to  the  Promenade  next  winter  and  maybe  to  the  big  foot 
ball  game.  I  have  seen  her  just  once,  and  it  strikes  me 
she  is  about  the  most  stunning  girl  I  ever  saw.  She  is 
at  school  in  Farmington.  Joe  goes  up  there  to  see  her 
rather  frequently.  He  probably  knows  some  of  her 
friends  too. 

Tarb  wants  me  to  go  down  to  Arizona  with  him  this 
summer.  He  says  he  '11  teach  me  how  to  punch  cows 
and  give  me  a  little  shooting  before  we  return  to  college. 
If  you  don't  want  me  all  summer,  I  should  like  to  take 
Tarbell  up  on  that.  I  want  to  be  an  all-around  man  (as 
Budson  says),  and  I  think  a  little  cow-punching  and 
meeting  a  new  kind  of  people  would  help  me  out.  Be 
sides,  it  will  keep  me  in  good  training  for  the  football 
team.  The  captain  has  asked  us  to  meet  him  at  Newport 
about  the  middle  of  September ;  but  as  Tarb  and  I  can 
give  him  a  good  excuse,  he  '11  be  sure  to  let  us  off. 

It 's  awfully  hot  (as  I  have  said  before)  and  terribly 
hard  to  study.  However,  it  will  all  be  over  in  a  few 
days  and  then  I  shall  be  with  you.  Please  ask  Thomas 
to  get  a  regular  Western  saddle  for  Toby.  I  am  going  to 

60 


JACK   WRITES   A   LETTER 

put  in  a  couple  of  weeks  at  rough  riding,  so  those  people 
in  Arizona  won't  think  I  am  a  tenderfoot. 

I  must  stop  here  :  some  of  the  fellows  have  come  and 
want  me  to  go  to  supper. 

Your  devoted 

JACK. 


61 


VII 

EXODUS 

THE  examinations  came,  —  an  ordeal  of  fire  be 
cause  a  quantity  of  dross  is  burnt  up  along 
with  some  really  good  material  of  which  the  Univer 
sity  has  not  been  able  to  discover  the  value.  It  is  the 
time  when  laziness  and  procrastination  bring  men 
into  such  sore  straits  that  they  sit  up  all  night  listen 
ing  to  relays  of  illiterate  urchins,  hired  to  read  ponies 
by  the  hour,  while  industrious  youths  of  slender 
means  make  swift  and  abundant  gains  by  drumming 
a  lot  of  indispensable  but  short-lived  ideas  into  very 
dull  heads  which  somebody  has  thought  worthy  of  a 
collegiate  education. 

In  these  days  Billy  James,  who  loathed  mathe 
matics  and  inveighed  against  them  as  if  they  had  been 
personal  enemies,  became  possessed  of  the  theory  that 
he  could  keep  his  brains  more  clear  and  active  by 
taking  violent  runs  over  the  country,  and  finishing 
with  a  plunge  into  cold  water,  than  by  studying.  So, 
when  the  doors  of  Alumni  Hall  were  thrown  open 
and  the  surging  crowd  pressed  in,  Billy  entered  gaily, 
cheering  with  the  rest,  —  that  battle-cry  of  the  Yale 
undergraduate,  who  wishes  to  impress  the  Faculty 
with  his  gladness  and  also  with  his  particular  and 
gregarious  belief  that  he  is  prepared  to  answer  any 

62 


EXODUS 

question  that  the  Faculty  is  able  to  ask.  Nil  despe- 
rari  —  desperatis  ! 

Strange  things  happened.  Ballentine,  for  instance, 
rashly  carried  into  examination  some  borrowed  brains 
on  a  long  roll  of  paper  acutely  devised  so  as  to  snap 
up  his  sleeve  at  the  approach  of  a  proctor.  The  con 
trivance  was  not  detected,  but  certain  suspicious 
phrases  on  his  blue-book,  and  an  accurate  estimate  of 
the  young  man's  mental  attainments,  caused  him  to 
lose  the  advantage  of  six  months'  residence  at  college, 
—  an  occurrence  interesting  in  itself  but  of  no  histor 
ical  importance. 

Thus  the  year  has  come  to  an  end.  Another  gen 
eration  of  Yalensians  is  shaken  off  Alma  Mater's 
apron-strings,  and  three  classes  change  their  names. 
Over  every  one,  slight  though  it  be,  has  come  some 
change  which  tends  to  liken  him  to  his  neighbour,  —  a 
change  impossible  to  escape,  whether  it  brings  him 
nearer  to  his  ideal  or  daily  makes  him  what  he  would 
not  be.  Buclson  is  still  cheeky  at  times,  and  will  be 
callow  all  his  days;  but  he  has  had  his  hardest 
knocks,  and  the  process  of  undoing  the  work  of  his 
parents  has  begun.  This  is  due  in  the  first  place  to 
a  whim  of  the  crotchety  but  ever  perspicuous  James ; 
for,  had  he  not  taken  it  into  his  head  to  have  Budson 
invite  Tarbell  to  be  his  room-mate,  Budson  might 
have  fallen  in  with  some  one  like  himself  and  lost  the 
best  part  of  his  training,  some  of  the  deepest  lessons 
that  a  man  learns  in  college  not  being  set  down  in  the 
catalogue. 

In  the  nine  months  of  buffeting  with  other  souls, 
James,  too,  has  unconsciously  sloughed  off  some  of 

63 


BOYS  AND   MEN 

his  extravagance,  and  become  more  like  the  type  which 
the  Clan  —  with  the  self -approval  which  we  are  wont 
to  forgive  in  large  bodies  —  calls  a  Yale  man.  The 
word  bears  its  own  praise,  as  do  "  Christian  "  and 
"gentleman." 

The  Quadrangle  is  once  more  in  upheaval.  Big 
wagons  with  fat  horses,  and  small  wagons  with  lean 
horses,  are  gathering  hundreds  of  trunks  and  all 
the  promiscuous  baggage  known  to  migrant  gentility. 
Washladies  are  passing  to  and  fro  in  the  hope  of 
collecting  tardy  bills,  or  staring  tearfully  into  de 
serted  rooms  from  which  careless  or  impecunious 
patrons  have  departed  without  paying  them  their  hard- 
earned  wage.  Faded  Africans  and  Ethiopians  dyed 
in  the  wool  rush  hither  and  thither  in  order  to  create 
by  a  final  burst  of  activity  the  impression  that  they 
have  laboured  diligently  throughout  the  year.  Along 
the  dormitories  departing  seniors  have  hung  from 
their  windows  facetious  signs:  "HEIRLOOMS  FROM 
GRAND  RAPIDS  ! "  "  EMBRACE  YOUR  OPPORTUNITY  I  " 
(with  illustration).  "  HONI  SOIT  Qui  MAL  Y  NILI  !  " 
" NOBBY  ARTICLES  IN  GENTS'  ROOM  FURNISHINGS!  " 
—  and  some  of  them  are  accompanied  by  grotesque 
cartoons.  On  the  Campus  prowls  the  dwarfish  Jew, 
ever  ready  to  waylay  the  spendthrift,  who  for  jingling 
cash  is  willing  to  part  with  good  clothes  at  a  twen 
tieth  of  their  worth;  others,  their  arms  laden  with 
spoils,  are  hurrying  to  their  lairs,  where  they  will 
sell  them  to  wage-earners  for  Hebraic  gain. 

In  the  midst  of  all  this  turmoil  Colonel  Fitzhugh, 
his  hands  tucked  in  his  pockets  and  a  straw  hat  tilted 
back  from  his  tranquil  forehead,  saunters  down  the 

64 


EXODUS 

Durfee  walk,  and  reposes  himself  with  leisurely  ele 
gance  upon  the  Fence.  He  is  colouring  a  meerschaum 
pipe,  and  seems  hardly  to  know  that  the  year  is  ended ; 
and  really,  from  his  point  of  view,  it  makes  little 
difference.  In  front  of  Farnam  Tarbell  is  shaking 
Budson's  hand,  and  as  he  turns  away,  Budson  stands 
looking  wistfully  after  him  until  he  is  lost  to  sight. 
Gradually  the  last  stragglers  depart,  and  the  great 
buildings  begin  to  stare  desolately  through  their  blank 
and  empty  windows.  It  is  far  into  June. 


65 


VIII 

DESMOND 

IN  summer  New  Haven  dozes.  One  might  almost 
think  the  good  old  place  had  ceased  to  breathe. 
In  this  state  of  suspended  animation,  and  quite  as 
doleful  as  a  frame  that  has  lost  its  picture,  New 
Haven  remains  until  the  revolving  months  have  trav 
elled  their  dusty  road,  and  autumn  has  once  more 
touched  the  leaves.  Then  you  see  collegians  in  the 
streets,  and  recognize  them  by  something  in  dress 
and  gait  as  easily  as  an  American  can  distinguish  a 
fellow-countryman  on  the  Champs  Elyse'es.  They 
saunter  along,  puffing  their  pipes,  with  as  little  regard 
for  public  opinion  as  for  the  Punic  Wars.  Here  a 
couple  stop  a  moment  at  the  photographer's  window, 
to  see  if  he  has  changed  his  samples  of  pretty  girls ; 
farther  on,  a  group  of  six  or  seven  stand  in  the 
middle  of  the  sidewalk  and  chat  unconcernedly,  while 
townsmen  veer  from  their  paths.  They  are  both  used 
to  it  now,  but  time  was  when  there  were  daily  squab 
bles  and  frequent  spillings  of  bad  blood.  Town  and 
gown  have  become  more  civilized,  and  no  longer  look 
upon  each  other  as  belonging  to  separate  species. 

Inside  the  Quadrangle,  which  is  enclosed  by  iron 
gates  and  big  buildings,  you  may  see  the  rushing  of 
busy  but  ineffective  sweeps,  —  of  draymen,  agents, 

66 


DESMOND 

and  washerwomen,  —  all  the  motley  throng  that  gets 
a  living  out  of  this  migratory  population.  Mrs. 
McCann  floats  complacently  down  the  eastern  walk, 
followed  by  her  increasingly  aristocratic  daughter, 
and  yonder  is  the  representative  of  the  Crystal  Pool 
Laundry  with  his  suavity  and  his  diamond.  There 
are  young,  unfamiliar  faces  which  wear  an  expression 
of  doubt  and  timidity,  or  the  slight  swagger  that 
comes  from  not  being  quite  sure  of  one's  ground.  As 
a  company  of  these  novices  passes  the  Chapel,  sopho- 
moric  idlers  on  their  end  of  the  Fence  begin  in  concert 
a  sneering  and  impertinently  monotonous  whistle,  to 
which  the  freshmen  are  obliged  to  keep  step  with  that 
fatal  obedience  to  the  sense  of  rhythm  which  is  in 
every  breathing  thing.  It  is  called  the  Freshman 
March,  and  is  composed  of  exactly  fourteen  notes. 
One  of  the  whistlers  is  Budson.  Basking  in  his 
sophomoric  glory,  he  smokes  triumphantly.  Colonel 
Fitzhugh's  meerschaum  pipe,  after  three  months  of 
unflagging  devotion,  is  just  turning  to  a  blotchy 
brown.  The  Colonel  holds  his  carven  shrine  grace 
fully,  and  watches  the  smoke  as  it  ascends  in  pearly 
waves  to  the  divinity  of  sluggards  and  tobacco. 
James,  his  brown  face  resting  between  his  browner 
hands,  sits  humped  like  an  S  upon  the  comfortable 
Fence,  and  his  expression  is  earnest  to  the  verge  of 
melancholy. 

"Look  here,  Bill,"  said  the  Colonel,  with  an  accent 
more  rich  and  musical  than  in  June,  "  I  reckon  you  've 
got  the  mopes,  have  n't  you,  or  are  you  countin'  on 
swearin'  off  again?" 

"  Fitz,  I  have  n't  even  the  intention  of  swearing  to 
67 


BOYS   AND   MEN 

swear  off.  If  I  had  any  plans  I  'd  gladly  let  you  into 
them.  No,  I  'm  building  no  fancy  chances  this  year. 
Have  you  any  tobacco,  Colonel?" 

"  Most  assuredly  I  have,  and  take  this  occasion  of 
repayin'  a  pinch  of  the  pound  I  must  have  borrowed 
of  you  last  year.  Speakin'  of  tobacco,  William,  are 
you  still  engaged  in  the  pursuit  of  literature?  I 
reckon  you  '11  be  palmin'  off  some  of  your  summer 
love  affairs  on  the  old  '  Lit.  Magazine,'  won't  you? 
Just  put  yourself  in  the  third  person  and  mix  up  the 
ladies'  characteristics,  and  you  '11  have  enough  to 
keep  you  goin'  till  the  Fourth  of  July.  For  the  lan'- 
sake  I  If  there  is  n't  old  Jack  Eldredge,  lookin'  just 
as  natural  as  life !  " 

Fitzhugh  and  James  rapidly  undo  their  legs  and 
make  for  Eldredge  with  outstretched  hands.  Jack's 
sunny  countenance  beams  healthily  as  he  responds 
with  a  vigorous  grip :  "  Howdy,  Fitz  ?  What 's  the 
good  word  from  the  Blue  Grass  country?  Well, 
well,  Billy!  Why  did  n't  you  tell  a  fellow?  What 
do  you  mean  by  raising  a  moustache  in  my  absence  ? 
But  you  have  n't  grown  a  bit  —  I  can  still  see  over 
your  head.  Where  have  you  been  and  what  have  you 
done  ?  Come,  out  with  it  now,  if  you  've  got  any 
thing  concealed  on  your  person  —  Colonel,  Bill 
looks  suspicious,  doesn't  he?" 

"That's  just  what  I've  been  observin'  myself," 
said  the  Colonel.  "  It  would  be  more  than  surprisin' 
if  he  had  n't  been  up  to  some  of  his  pranks.  I  'm 
lookin'  for  some  literature  as  soon  as  the  mill  goes  to 
grindin'  —  By  the  way,  Jack,  ain't  you  smokin'  ? 
Here  's  my  little  old  briarwood  and  a  bag  of  choice 

68 


DESMOND 

Virginia  —  James  '11  kindly  provide  you  with  a 
match." 

"No,  Colonel,  I  can't  go  you.  I  've  been  in  train 
ing  for  a  week.  Have  you  seen  Tarbell?  He  has 
been  at  my  house,  feeding  up.  Are  you  coming  out 
to  the  Field  this  afternoon?" 

Here  the  three  men  return  to  the  Fence  and  settle 
on  it  comfortably.  There  is  one  advantage  in  a  board 
four  inches  wide:  it  will  fit  any  shape.  Presently 
Budson,  who  has  been  absorbed  in  his  conversation, 
spies  Eldredge  and  comes  running  over.  His  eyes 
are  watery  with  glad  emotion,  and  he  seizes  Jack  by 
the  hand  before  the  latter  has  time  to  climb  off  the 
Fence. 

"Hello,  Jack,  old  boy;  you  're  looking  as  brown  as 
a  berry."  (That  was  precisely  Budson's  expression.) 
"  Well,  it  seems  good  to  be  back  at  the  old  College, 
does  n't  it?  The  old  familiar  faces  do  a  fellow 
good.  How  do  you  like  James's  moustache  ?  It 's  a 
corker,  is  n't  it?  How 's  your  muscle,  Jack?  "  (feel 
ing  Eldredge's  biceps.)  "I  guess  you'll  do.  We 
fellows  won't  be  anywhere  by  Christmas  if  you  go  on 
piling  up  your  honours  at  such  a  rate  —  I  suppose 
you  '11  be  captain  next  year,  won't  you?" 

"It  looks  as  if  Budson  had  had  a  relapse,"  growled 
James  to  Thorndyke.  "  He  's  probably  been  spend 
ing  the  summer  with  his  parents.  Tarbell  ought  not 
to  allow  that  man  out  of  his  sight  a  week  at  a  time." 

"Well,"  said  Budson,  who  began  almost  every 
sentence  with  a  well,  "I  must  be  going  along;  we  '11 
all  go  out  to  the  Field  this  afternoon  and  see  Jack 
buck  the  line.  Oh,  say!  We'll  have  a  little  fun 

69 


BOYS   AND   MEN 

with  the  freshmen  to-night.  They  're  fresh  as  green 
paint." 

"Don't  be  too  hard  on  them,"  quoth  Billy;  "y°u 
remember  your  own  experience." 

Now  Budson  had  never  thought  there  was  a  serious 
side  to  that,  so  he  merely  laughed  and  said  some 
thing  jocular  about  the  wholesome  effect  that  a  mild 
dose  of  hazing  may  have  on  the  character  of  one  who 
needs  it,  as  a  parrot  might  say  "Poor  Polly,"  and 
went  cheerfully  on  his  way. 

Mr.  Fitzhugh  Thorndyke  carefully  dug  the  ashes 
out  of  his  pipe,  replenished  it,  and  sauntered  ele 
gantly  down  the  Campus.  There  was  just  the  thought 
of  a  swagger  in  his  indolent  gait,  and  his  hat  was 
cocked  slightly  to  one  side.  There  are  persons  whose 
character  is  discernible  in  their  very  backs. 

James  and  Eldredge  basked  silently  in  the  noonday 
sun.  Around  them  other  fellows  were  chatting  and 
laughing  at  jokes  of  their  own.  One  was  patiently 
absorbed  in  carving  the  class  numerals  on  a  smooth 
spot  in  the  Fence.  By  and  by  James  knocked  a 
reeking  lump  of  nicotine  from  his  pipe  and  rubbed 
the  glossy  briar  upon  his  nose. 

"Have  a  nice  summer,  Jack?" 

"  Not  very  dull,  thanks.  I  have  seen  some  lively 
times.  Have  you  ever  punched  cows,  Billy?" 

"No,  milk  punch  is  the  nearest  I  've  been  to  it. 
Did  you  get  any  shooting  ?  " 

"Oh,  I  had  a  lot  better  sport  than  that!  Tarbell 
and  I  helped  run  down  some  wolves.  My  boy,  you 
never  had  such  fun!  If  you  really  want  to  enjoy 
something,  just  get  a  rope  around  one  of  those  beg- 

70 


DESMOND 

gars  and  then  go  jumping  over  the  prairie  on  a  tough 
little  broncho  with  the  wolf  dragging  after  you.  I  'd 
rather  do  that  once  than  dodge  every  man  on  a  foot 
ball  field." 

"I  should  think  it  would  be  a  pleasant  sensation," 
said  James.  "How  did  Tarb  seem  on  his  native 
heath?" 

'*  Tarb  knows  a  few  things,  Billy,  that  we  have  n't 
guessed.  He  's  a  star  broncho-breaker,  and  can  brand 
more  critters  in  one  day  than  you  ever  saw  this  side 
of  Chicago.  But  you  ought  to  have  seen  him  with 
the  other  boys  on  the  ranch!  They  've  got  a  preju 
dice  against  Eastern  people  and  are  pretty  hot  about 
politics,  but  Tarb  kept  them  in  hand  in  the  nicest 
way  possible.  They  were  bully  to  me  all  the  while, 
and  I  tell  you  there  is  n't  a  whiter  lot  of  fellows  any 
where.  Where  are  you  living  this  year?" 

"The  same  old  place.  I  had  thought  of  moving 
on  to  the  Campus,  but  my  landlady  was  so  nice  that  I 
could  n't  break  away.  Besides,  it 's  too  hard  to 
study  on  the  Campus.  Here  comes  Desmond,  Jack. 
I  think  I  'd  better  be  going;  I  '11  try  to  see  the  foot 
ball  practice  this  afternoon." 

Eldredge  did  n't  quite  catch  the  hidden  inference. 
Desmond  had  always  been  obsequious  to  Jack.  He 
was  always  amiable  when  there  was  something  to 
gain  by  it.  If  he  swore  falsely  to  the  Dean,  snubbed 
his  obscure  classmates,  and  hid  under  his  bed  to  avoid 
paying  a  wash-bill,  it  was  not  well  enough  known  to 
make  much  difference. 

Desmond  wished  to  be  seen  in  the  society  of  prom 
inent  men,  being  one  himself.  Besides,  he  had  a  few 

71 


BOYS  AND   MEN 

feelers  to  put  out  in  order  to  see  how  he  stood,  and 
Eldredge  would  be  likely  to  know.  With  all  the 
skill  Desmond  was  to  show,  a  few  years  later,  in 
culling  what  Americans,  with  a  fine  respect  for  their 
institutions,  are  accustomed  to  call  "plums,"  this 
precocious  Talleyrand  was  now  making  plans  to  gain 
some  more  of  the  distinctions  which  Yalensians  prize. 
Everybody  was  aware  that  Desmond  was  a  serious 
man;  he  had  written  divers  articles  on  the  "Yale 
Spirit,"  the  "Opportunities  of  a  College  Life,"  and 
other  weighty  matters,  to  prove  it.  He  was  also  in 
scrutable,  and  to  be  inscrutable  at  onescore  years  is 
to  be  a  person  of  great  resources. 

After  a  while  the  politician  went  upon  some  other 
errand,  and  Jack  betook  himself  to  the  Eating  Club. 
The  various  members  made  remarks  on  one  another's 
appearance,  and  each  man  was  asked  where  he  had 
passed  the  summer,  why  he  hadn't  kept  his  promise 
to  visit  somebody  else,  when  he  got  back,  and  many 
like  questions.  Glenn  demanded  of  James  wherefore 
he  had  such  a  "grouch,"  to  which  he  got  no  satisfac 
tory  reply.  Drake  was  requested  to  give  a  detailed 
account  of  the  fauna  and  flora  of  British  Columbia, 
and  Joshua  would  fain  have  made  reply,  but  some 
one  cracked  a  joke  and  there  arose  a  din  of  unquench 
able  laughter  like  to  that  of  the  riotous  heroes  quoted 
in  Hadley's  Grammar. 

That  afternoon  a  great  throng  flocked  to  the  Field. 
Tarbell  and  Eldredge  made  a  brilliant  play  on  the 
first  snapback  and  were  cheered  to  the  welkin.  Tar- 
bell  took  it  unconcernedly,  but  Jack's  sweaty  face 
reddened  with  a  flush  of  pleasure.  A  minute  later 

72 


DESMOND 

he  missed  the  ball,  and  caught  a  rebuke  from  the 
coach  for  being  the  worst  fumbler  on  the  team. 
Whereupon  he  seized  the  next  ball  passed  to  him, 
and  with  but  a  single  man  to  interfere,  dashed 
through  the  opposing  line  and  sped  down  the  field, 
dodging  right  under  a  pair  of  hands  outstretched  to 
down  him,  hurling  another  adversary  so  that  he 
turned  a  somersault  and  rolled  off,  hors  de  combat,  a 
rod  away.  Like  a  human  cyclone,  he  zigzagged  and 
squirmed  his  way  to  the  goal  and  made  his  touch 
down.  The  crowd  went  wild  with  enthusiasm,  yell 
ing  "  Eldredge !  Eldredge !  "  and  "  Rah !  Rah !  Rah ! " 
till  the  conflict  was  resumed. 

There  was  not  an  eating  club  but  discussed  that 
play  at  dinner,  and  afterwards,  as  if  it  had  been  a 
battle  or  an  assassination ;  but  Jack  and  Tarbell  went 
to  training  table,  where  such  things  are  talked  of 
cautiously,  for  fear  of  swelling  somebody's  head  or 
damaging  the  team's  morale. 


73 


IX 

TWO  POINTS  OF  VIEW 

HAVING  tussled  for  a  disagreeable  hour  with  a 
small  but  vicious  book  on  "  Analytical  Trigo 
nometry"  with  no  more  serious  results  than  a  few 
impotent  curses,  James  hied  him  to  Glenn  for  help. 
Glenn  had  gone  out,  so  James  flopped  disconsolately 
into  a  chair  and  waxed  satirical  about  mathematicians. 

Jack  had  worked  his  problems,  but  he  had  n't  the 
knack  of  explanation,  which  is  harder  than  compre 
hension. 

"What  bores  me,"  said  James,  "is  to  know  that  I 
do  know  something ;  but  all  this  mathematical  rot  is 
keeping  me  down  in  everything  else.  To  think  of 
being  herded  off  with  the  dunces  in  the  class,  and 
having  to  listen  to  their  footless  recitations  in  sub 
jects  about  which  I  really  can  think  intelligently !  I 
wonder  if  professors  —  Well,  it 's  no  go.  Give  me 
a  cigarette,  Jack.  No,  of  course  you  have  n't  any. 
I  '11  forage."  He  went  into  Glenn's  room  and  re 
turned  with  a  lighted  cigarette.  "  Tell  Joe  I  've 
taken  a  nail  out  of  his  coffin." 

"Billy,"  said  Jack,  "do  you  care  anything  about 
your  own  interests?  Because,  if  you  do,  you  are 
taking  a  poor  way  of  pushing  them." 

"What  do  you  mean?" 

74 


TWO  POINTS  OF   VIEW 

"  I  mean,"  replied  Eldredge,  "that  it 's  blamed  bad 
policy  to  be  making  enemies.  D'  ye  see  ?  " 

"  Whom,  for  instance  ? 

"Don't  be  silly." 

"Silly?  Oh,  I  see  what  you  mean!  But  I  '11  be 
hanged  if  I  can  look  at  it  in  that  way,  and,  moreover, 
I  '11  be  hanged  if  I  will.  What's-his-name  knows 
I  'm  not  fond  of  his  type,  but  that 's  no  reason  why 
he  should  lay  himself  out  to  spoil  my  fun.  I  '11  tell 
you  something  interesting,  Jack,  —  but  you  must 
excuse  me  for  talking  about  things  which  you  con 
sider  holy.  A  chance  has  brought  you  into  close 
relations  with  Desmond,  and  I  suppose  you  've  sworn 
great  oaths  to  cherish  him  like  a  brother;  but,  you 
see,  I  'm  free  as  the  air,  and  can  therefore  enjoy 
the  privilege  of  despising  the  man  for  just  what 
he  is." 

If  Eldredge  had  n't  been  straightforward,  he  would 
have  regarded  this  mention  of  his  secret  society  as  an 
offence.  He  merely  looked  more  earnest. 

"Desmond  made  a  mistake,  Billy." 

"  Oh,  a  mistake,  was  it !  Then  you  consider  it  a 
mistake  to  slander  and  lie  and  steal !  " 

"Come,  Bill,"  said  Eldredge,  soothingly,  "you're 
just  imagining." 

"Yes,"  retorted  James,  wrathfully,  "just  the  same 
as  when  somebody  sticks  you  in  the  back.  Of  course 
you  're  supposed  not  to  know  it.  But  I  do  know  it, 
and  I  '11  make  myself  even  if  it  takes  a  year." 

"That's  a  pretty  spirit,  Bill;  I  didn't  know  you 
were  such  a  revengeful  cuss." 

"I  can't  help  what  I  am,  Jack,  and  you  can't 
75 


BOYS   AND   MEN 

know.  Everything  goes  just  as  you  would  like  to 
have  it;  everybody  treats  you  fairly,  rinding  it  un 
necessary  to  tell  lies ;  but  it 's  not  quite  all  it  looks 
to  be,  and  some  day  you  may  get  a  chance  to  see 
things  from  my  point  of  view.  Possibly  you  '11  be 
disgusted  just  the  same  as  I,  am,  and  even  go  low 
enough  to  loathe  a  man  who  snubs  decent  fellows  in 
order  to  please  other  snobs,  and  hides  under  his  bed 
to  avoid  settling  his  wash-bill.  Well,  good-night, 
Jack;  I've  got  a  fearful  grouch." 

With  that  James  went  off,  leaving  Jack  in  a  quan 
dary.  He  leaned  his  elbows  on  the  cushioned  window- 
seat  and  looked  out  upon  the  tree-tops  and  the  Green 
without  seeing  either.  It  really  seemed  to  him  in 
this  moment  of  sober  reflection  that  he  ought  to  do 
something  to  offset  Desmond's  work,  for  he  knew 
that  James  had  suffered  disappointment  and  was 
likely  to  suffer  more,  and  Jack,  despite  his  sworn 
obligation  to  Desmond,  was  a  lover  of  fair  play.  He 
despised  the  paltriness  of  the  thing,  and  at  the  same 
time  he  felt  a  great  reluctance  to  meddling  in  other 
people's  quarrels.  Any  direct  resentment  or  inter 
ference  he  regarded  as  Quixotic,  and  therefore  re 
solved  to  let  James  fight  his  own  battles,  yet  he  felt 
a  sort  of  personal  indignation  which  might  have 
become  material  if  the  offender  had  appeared  at  that 
moment. 

In  the  midst  of  these  ruminations  Glenn  came  in, 
and  seeing  his  room-mate  in  so  pensive  a  mood,  asked 
if  anybody  had  died.  Eldredge  didn't  quite  like 
being  considered  solemn,  so  he  shook  off  his  thought 
ful  air  and  did  not  even  say  that  James  had  been  to 

76 


TWO  POINTS  OF   VIEW 

see  him,  until  Glenn  remarked  that  he  had  just  met 
him  on  the  street  looking  very  glum. 

"Joe,"  said  Eldredge,  "I  hardly  know  what  to 
think  of  Bill.  One  day  he  seems  as  gritty  as  any  one, 
and  another  he  appears  to  give  in.  I  wish  he  was  n't 
so  ticklish.  If  you  had  heard  him  lay  out  a  certain 
acquaintance  of  ours  !  The  unfortunate  side  of  it  is 
that  I  know  Bill  to  be  truthful,  and  am  therefore 
forced  to  change  my  views  about  somebody  else." 

"Who's  that?"  asked  Glenn. 

"  First,  I  want  you  to  answer  a  question.  Suppose 
a  fellow  a  few  months  younger  than  you  or  I  joins  a 
secret  society  and,  without  really  knowing  what  sort 
of  a  crowd  he  's  in,  swears  he  will  be  a  friend  to  every 
one  of  them.  Later  he  finds  out  that  one  of  his 
fellow  members  is  a  —  well,  a  man  like  Desmond." 

"I  should  say,"  replied  Glenn,  "that  he  was  fool 
ish  to  make  such  promises,  and  also  that  the  whole 
business  strikes  me  as  childish.  The  person  you 
mention  has  always  stuck  in  my  crop  because  he  is  a 
hypocrite,  but,  leaving  that  aside,  he  has  n't  got  in 
my  way  and  I  have  n't  cared  a  rap  what  else  he  did. 
It 's  too  bad,  though,  that  such  a  miserable  specimen 
should  be  looked  up  to." 

"Here  's  a  nice  mess,"  said  Jack.  "I  have  to  see 
the  man  every  day  of  my  life,  and  I  don't  know  how 
long  I  can  stomach  it.  If  Bill  had  n't  said  anything 
about  the  thing,  I  might  have  found  it  out  for  myself ; 
but  now  it 's  like  meddling  in  other  people's  quarrels. 
Well,  Joe,  we  '11  see  what  turns  up." 

"  Which  will  be  nothing  at  all.  Billy  will  chew  a 
good  deal  of  soap  and  waste  considerable  valuable 

77 


BOYS  AND   MEN 

time  worrying  over  his  grievance,  but  Desmond  will 
go  his  own  way,  —  over  a  few  of  his  friends'  necks, 
—  and  what  are  you  going  to  do  about  it  ?  Things 
are  arranged  that  way.  It  isn't  at  all  pretty,  Jack." 

"No,  it  is  n't,  for  a  fact." 

"How  was  the  practice  to-day? "  asked  Glenn,  who 
had  got  enough  of  the  other  matter. 

"Bad!  I  was  perfectly  rotten  to  drop  that  ball. 
It  came  too  high  for  me  to  get  a  grip.  Great  Scott ! 
I  was  lucky  afterwards." 

"  Yes,  I  heard  about  it.  Everybody  says  it  was  a 
grand  run." 

"Do  they?"  asked  Jack. 

"And  they  also  say  that  you  are  erratic.  Well, 
good-night,  Jack.  I  'm  one  night  behind  on  sleep." 

"Good-night,"  responded  Eldredge;  and  the  two 
men  retired  to  their  cubby  bedrooms.  One  of  them 
sat  on  his  bed  with  one  shoe  off  and  his  head  in  his 
hands  until  the  clock  boomed  eleven.  A  small  part 
of  the  hour  he  passed  in  asking  himself  unanswerable 
questions,  —  a  man  is  likely  to  do  that  when  he  is 
disgusted ;  the  remainder  of  the  time  he  spent  watch 
ing  a  certain  egg-shaped  leather  ball  which  was  con 
tinually  being  passed  to  him,  and  which,  just  as 
continually,  slipped  out  of  his  hands  and  went 
bounding  in  an  aerial  zigzag  into  the  clutches  of 
another  player.  Slowly  he  pulled  off  his  clothes  and 
went  to  bed,  to  dream  of  a  cursing  coach  who  turned 
red  with  fury  and  told  him  to  get  off  the  field.  And 
as  he  walked  off,  hundreds  of  eyes  along  the  ropes 
followed  him  until  at  last  people  and  field  melted 
away  into  the  clouds  of  sleep. 

78 


A  COWARD'S  HONOUR 

YOU  may  meet  a  man  every  day  for  weeks  at  a 
time,  you  may  give  him  your  hand  because 
custom  compels  you  to,  you  may  smile  with  him  and 
say  nothing  bitter  or  hostile ;  but  if  your  ideals  are 
opposed  to  his  lack  of  them,  if  you  are  humanly 
honest  while  you  know  him  to  be  a  rogue,  if  you 
have  good  impulses  while  you  are  aware  he  has 
hardly  one,  some  condition  must  finally  arise  which 
will  bring  you  into  conflict  with  that  other  man. 
Eldredge  and  Desmond  met  daily,  each  treating  the 
other  with  the  courtesy  of  gentlemen.  They  met  at 
their  Society,  they  sat  upon  the  Fence  together,  they 
shared  the  common  interests  of  a  college  life.  Once 
or  twice  Desmond  and  James  mischanced  to  meet  in 
some  classmate's  room.  James  did  nothing  childish, 
and  Desmond  did  nothing  low,  but  it  seemed  that 
James  could  not  long  bear  the  sight  of  him.  There 
fore  that  somewhat  choleric  idealist  found  a  way  of 
disappearing.  He  was  much  too  much  a  gentleman 
to  squabble  in  another  man's  room. 

The  great  football  match  came  and  was  fought  with 
the  desperate  energy  that  two-and-twenty  stalwart 
Anglo-Saxons  are  accustomed  to  put  into  that  best  of 
games.  There  were  the  yelling  thousands  upon  the 

79 


BOYS  AND   MEN 

bleachers  with  the  chosen  women  and  the  brass  bands. 
There  were  hard  knocks  and  bruises,  and  bleeding 
but  harmless  wounds. 

Into  that  conflict  Tarbell  went  calmly,  like  a  giant, 
trustful  in  his  own  strength,  and  sure  of  every  signal 
that  might  be  given.  His  brute  force  was  that  of 
three  ordinary  men,  and  he  had  the  brains  which  are 
not  absolutely  necessary  but  highly  useful  in  an 
athlete.  Eldredge,  likewise,  was  in  the  pink  of  con 
dition  ;  as  perfect  a  man  as  one  ever  sees.  Eldredge, 
too,  had  a  level  head,  and  he  was  also  brilliant  and 
fleet  of  foot  (which  is  better  still).  With  the  ball  once 
firm  under  his  armpit,  he  would  have  dodged  a  bay 
onet  with  as  little  fear  as  he  showed  in  eluding  the 
agile  hands  outstretched  to  hurl  him.  Through  the 
swift  and  well-drilled  company  of  the  other  team  he 
cleared  never  more  than  twenty  yards,  and  more  than 
once  he  was  flung  rudely  without  a  foot  of  gain. 
Only  once  he  dropped  the  ball,  and  it  was  immedi 
ately  saved  by  a  vigilant  rusher.  Such  things  will 
happen  to  the  best  of  players  and  happened  to  him. 

In  the  Middle  Ages  fair  ladies  foregathered  at 
tourneys  to  watch  their  champion  knights,  and  so  it  is 
still.  But  Margaret  Glenn  was  not  present.  That 
was  a  disappointment,  for  Joe  had  said  that  she  would 
be  there.  Afterwards  she  wrote  a  note  of  regret, 
which  Jack  carried  in  his  coat-pocket,  while  he  flung 
disgustedly  into  the  waste-basket  a  letter  from  some 
unknown  simpleton  who,  under  the  pretext  of  admi 
ration  for  his  athletic  prowess,  begged  for  a  signed 
photograph. 

Three  weeks  later  came  the  mid-year  examinations, 
80 


A  COWARD'S  HONOUR 

and  that  was  the  time  when  the  circumstances  arose 
that  set  two  men  at  odds,  and  broke  a  bond  of  friend 
ship  which  was  already  severed  in  all  but  a  single 
strand.  What  happened  then  had  also  happened  in  a 
different  way  many  times  before,  but  not  with  the 
same  results. 

On  that  particular  day  the  usual  horde  of  boister 
ous,  nervous  undergraduates  surged  through  the  por 
tals  of  Alumni  Hall.  Grouped  according  to  their 
studies,  they  sat  in  various  rooms,  at  the  octagonal, 
ink-stained  tables,  pen  in  hand,  awaiting  the  ever- 
mysterious  questions.  Eldredge  sat  by  the  wall, 
with  his  head  against  a  wainscot;  near  him,  a  yard 
or  so  away,  was  Desmond,  a  shade  paler  than  usual, 
as  a  man  is  likely  to  be  when  he  mistrusts  his  own 
brains.  The  clock  struck  the  even  hour,  and  proctors 
passed  about,  distributing  the  papers.  In  a  minute 
every  man  was  bending  over  his  table,  or  gazing  anx 
iously,  vacantly  into  space,  searching  for  the  idea  that 
was  there  if  anywhere.  Eldredge,  who  felt  pretty 
sure  of  his  knowledge,  bent  to  his  work  with  energy. 
Desmond  sat  with  his  hands  in  his  hair,  staring  hope 
lessly  at  what  to  him  was  a  riddle.  He  chewed  his 
pen  nervously,  and  wrote  his  name  at  the  top  of  the 
blank.  Had  it  been  literature,  he  might  have  made 
some  answer  out  of  whole  cloth,  but  mechanics  can 
not  be  manipulated  in  that  way.  There  may  be 
several  ways  of  reaching  it,  but  there  can  be  only  one 
solution. 

After  half  an  hour  of  this  strain,  Eldredge  received 
permission  from  an  overseer  to  get  a  drink  of  water- 
A  few  seconds  later  his  neighbour  followed  him  out  of 
6  81 


BOYS  AND  MEN 

the  room  and  into  a  little  hall.  They  reached  it 
almost  at  the  same  instant.  Eldredge  was  on  the 
point  of  turning  back  when  Desmond  stopped  him. 

"Wait,  Jack,  a  minute."  Eldredge  turned,  but 
said  nothing. 

"  Jack,  what 's  the  formula  for  the  fall  of  an 
object?" 

Eldredge  hesitated  a  second. 

"Quick!  Jack,  quick!  Let  me  have  it!  They'll 
catch  on  if  we  stay  too  long."  Eldredge  flushed  at 
the  imputation  and  started  to  go. 

"  Tell,  tell  me,  Jack.  One  of  the  proctors  is  com 
ing  this  way."  Beads  of  cold  sweat  were  on  the 
man's  forehead,  and  the  roots  of  his  hair  were  itching. 
He  put  his  hand  on  Jack's  shoulder  as  if  to  detain 
him,  and  his  face  was  sallow  with  fear. 

"  Give  it  to  me,  Jack,  old  man.  I  've  failed  already 
on  three  exams,  and  if  I  flunk  this  it  means  —  " 

"I  can't,"  said  Eldredge,  in  a  low  tone;  "it's  not 
right.  We  're  on  our  honour." 

"Oh,  bosh!"  exclaimed  Desmond.  "You  don't 
mean  to  say  you  —  Why,  everybody  does  it.  Come, 
Jack,  don't  be  so  virtuous;  it's  only  doing  the 
Faculty  a  little.  How  can  that  hurt  you  ?  " 

The  moments  were  pressing.  Eldredge  stood 
looking  at  Desmond  with  hard-set  jaw ;  a  flushed  but 
almost  expressionless  face.  Desmond's  hand  dropped ; 
his  lips  began  to  quiver;  his  face  was  growing  wan. 

"I  thought  you  were  my  friend,  Eldredge,  but  I 
see  you  're  not." 

"No,  I  am  not  —  in  this  instance,"  replied 
Eldredge,  slowly. 

82 


A  COWARD'S  HONOUR 

"  After  your  professions, "  sneered  Desmond.  "  But 
you  're  a  damned  hypocrite." 

The  flush  on  Eldredge's  face  faded.  Anger  rushed 
to  his  eyes ;  he  drew  back  his  arm  as  if  to  strike,  but, 
mastering  himself,  turned  and  went  back  to  his  place. 
His  heart  was  swelling  with  indignation  and  loath 
ing.  Desmond  returned  to  his  table  with  a  face  as 
bloodless  as  parchment;  he  stared  for  some  minutes 
at  the  unwritten  sheet,  then,  having  scribbled  an  ex 
cuse  of  sudden  illness,  he  left  the  room. 


83 


XI 

INTO  THE  WORLD 

/CHRISTMAS  holidays  being  over,  there  was  much 
V_x  business  on  hand.  Committees  and  more  com 
mittees  sat  up  nights  and  worked  all  day  in  their 
endeavour  to  make  their  Junior  Promenade  the  smooth 
est  and  swellest  that  had  ever  been  held.  An  army 
of  upholsterers,  of  florists,  of  caterers,  came  and  took 
their  particular  squints  at  the  Armory  ballroom, 
and  each  expressed  several  expensive  opinions  in  the 
language  of  his  craft.  For  three  weeks  before  the 
night  of  the  ball  everybody  scurried  hither  and 
thither,  filling  out  cards  of  dances  with  the  best 
names  to  be  had.  There  was  some  politics,  some 
trifling  misrepresentation,  a  little  irritation;  much 
satisfaction  on  the  part  of  those  who  could  get  what 
they  wanted,  and  a  good  deal  more  putting  up  with  it 
on  the  part  of  those  who  could  n't. 

It  had  not  occurred  to  Tarbell,  until  some  admirer 
asked  for  a  dance,  that  his  knowledge  of  that  art  was 
limited  to  a  few  hilarious  jigs  and  the  sort  of  spiel 
which  ranchers  dignify  with  the  name  waltz.  Never 
theless  he  had  a  full  card  in  no  time,  and  therefore 
felt  it  incumbent  upon  himself  to  take  lessons.  For 
two  weeks  he  laboured  like  a  dray-horse.  Professor 
de  Riel  had  never  taught  a  more  conscientious  nor  a 
bigger  pupil.  Professor  de  Kiel  was  "  lady  "  most  of 

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INTO  THE  WORLD 

the  time.  He  showed  Tarbell  how  to  reverse  so  that 
he  could  do  it  as  skilfully  as  a  twin-screw  steamer, 
and  he  also  explained  to  his  disciple  the  meaning  of 
"  dozy-doe,"  and  other  delicate  features  of  the  dance. 
Young  ladies  came  at  the  professor's  behest,  and  Tar- 
bell  waltzed  them  up  and  down  the  terpsichorean 
floor  and  practised  talking  as  he  danced.  After  a 
while  he  could  say  a  whole  sentence  during  the 
reverse,  as  if  he  and  his  partner  had  been  sitting  by 
the  wall.  But,  try  as  he  might,  his  coat-tails  bobbed 
like  streamers  in  the  breeze.  The  professor  hinted 
facetiously  that  clasp-pins  might  accomplish  some 
thing,  and  Tarbell  thought  of  leaden  weights,  both  of 
which  schemes  were  abandoned  as  fantastic.  But 
the  coat-tails  would  not  down. 

Tarbell  took  counsel  with  James,  who  asked  him 
what  the  deuce  he  cared.  "  She  can't  see  through  you, 
Tarb,  and  you  '11  be  several  times  more  picturesque." 

Tarbell  thought  he  might  manage  by  timely  ma 
noeuvres  so  that  his  partners  should  get  only  a  front 
view.  It 's  a  strange  thing  that  a  man  of  his  calibre 
can  be  embarrassed  by  mere  coat-tails.  Small  things 
have  a  way  of  bothering  big  people.  Barring  that, 
everything  was  a  perfection  of  studied  preparation. 

A  few  days  before  the  ball  came  dames  and  damsels 
from  every  corner  of  the  continent.  The  former 
were  gracious  and  correct ;  the  latter  were  nearly  all 
of  more  than  average  distinction  as  to  looks  and 
raiment,  by  virtue  of  the  Darwinian  law  which  gov 
erns  such  affairs. 

One  of  the  loveliest  was  a  dashing,  incomprehen 
sible  brunette  from  the  South.  She  and  her  chaperone 

85 


BOYS   AND   MEN 

were  in  the  charge  of  Mr.  Fitzhugh  Thorndyke,  who 
had  been  extraordinarily  complacent  for  a  month. 

Glenn  was  merely  bringing  his  own  sister.  Con 
sequently  his  elation  was  of  a  quiet,  brotherly  kind. 
In  his  own  mind  he  was  aware  that  Margaret  was 
comely ;  also  that  she  knew  a  great  many  things  not 
usually  contained  in  feminine  heads.  He  took  Jack 
and  Billy  and  Tarbell  to  call,  and  the  result  of  it  was 
that  those  three  men  got  together  afterwards  and 
made  comparisons  which  sadly  neglected  the  charms 
of  every  other  girl  they  had  seen. 

"  Joseph  is  n't  so  painfully  plain,"  said  James ; 
"  but  who  would  imagine,"  etc.,  etc.  "  What  do  you 
think,  Tarb?" 

"  I  don't  know  quite  what  to  think,  pardner,  but  I 
hope  she  won't  notice  those  coat-tails." 

"  Pshaw,  man !  How  the  deuce  is  she  going  to  see 
them  ?  You  don't  imagine  she 's  going  to  jump  over 
your  shoulder,  do  you  ?  Keep  a  firm  grip,  Tarb,  and 
she  '11  think  you  're  just  alike  on  both  sides." 

Eldredge  was  pensive,  —  wished  he  was  cleverer, 
wished  also  that  he  had  left  a  couple  more  dances 
open.  The  truth  was  that  none  of  the  three  had  any 
exact  notions  as  to  Miss  Margaret  Glenn,  and  each 
was  quite  right  in  not  being  too  honest  in  the  expres 
sion  of  those  he  had. 

Of  course  there  were  teas  preceding  the  Sophomore 
German  and  the  ball,  and  swell  turnouts  ploughed  or 
forded  the  streets  with  their  loads  of  fashionable  ap 
parel  and  pretty  faces.  Undergraduates,  who  but  a 
week  before  had  gone  about  in  caps  and  sweaters, 
came  forth  arrayed  in  silk  hats  and  frock  coats,  and 

86 


INTO  THE   WORLD 

their  acquaintances  guyed  them  harmlessly  from  the 
Fence  whenever  they  went  a-"  fussing,"  —  which  in 
Yale  slang  means  paying  social  courtesies  to  ladies 
not  of  your  own  blood. 

Resplendent  with  his  high  hat  and  shoes  that  glared, 
his  curls  adjusted  with  the  utmost  pains,  stick  in  hand, 
and  with  a  gait  not  his  own,  our  old  friend  Budson 
was  a  joy  to  see.  "  Boys,  you  're  not  in  my  class," 
quoth  he,  gaily ;  and  they  shaded  their  eyes  as  if  to 
shun  the  brilliant  light  that  played  on  his  auroral 
locks  and  silken  tile. 

Eldredge  had  reasons  for  believing  that  if  he  ar 
rived  at  a  certain  place  at  a  certain  hour  he  would  be 
much  better  pleased  than  if  he  arrived  at  some  other 
time.  He  was  therefore  disappointed  when  James 
appeared  and  invited  both  him  and  Tarbell  to  go  to 
the  same  place  at  the  same  hour.  They  started  off 
together,  Billy  taking  the  inner  edge  of  the  sidewalk 
to  gain  in  appearance  a  couple  of  inches  in  height. 

When  the  three  men  arrived,  a  large  number  of 
handsome  dresses  had  already  assembled,  and  a  some 
what  smaller  number  of  handsome  persons.  There 
was  a  swift  and  undistinguishable  chatter  of  high- 
keyed  voices,  with  an  undertone  of  masculine  speech ; 
and  the  dresses  passed  to  and  fro,  eying  one  another 
as  dresses  can,  furtively  and  in  an  instant. 

Our  friends  had  hardly  got  by  their  hostess,  when 
they  were  seized  by  Thorndyke,  who  presented  them 
to  Miss  Merivale  —  "  My  Miss  Merivale  "  —  if  he  had 
said  what  he  wished  to  think.  Had  she  not  been  ex 
traordinarily  pretty,  she  would  have  been  overdressed, 
but  as  she  sat  with  a  teacup  poised  in  her  fingers,  her 

87 


BOYS   AND   MEN 

dark  hair  waving  on  her  forehead,  the  flush  from  an 
overheated  room  upon  her  cheeks,  and  a  smile  in  her 
eyes,  she  seemed  as  lovely  as  some  nodding  orchid. 
To  each  of  the  three  men  she  said  something  melodi 
ously  flattering  in  her  irreproducible  Southern  speech. 
They  bent  nearer,  and  one  of  them  asked  if  he  might 
hold  her  cup,  and  Jack  inquired  very  foolishly  if  she 
had  been  long  in  town. 

"  Oh,  yes,  indeed,  and  is  n't  it  perfectly  fascinating  ? 
I  declare  I  wish  I  'd  been  born  a  man,  and  could  live 
in  this  delightful  old  city,  and  study  such  interesting 
things.  Is  n't  it  lovely,  Mr.  James  ?  " 

"Which?"  he  asked. 

"Living  in  this  town,  of  course,"  prompted 
Eldredge. 

"  Yes,  it  is  rather  nice,"  said  Billy.  "  Do  you  like 
the  old  Green?" 

"  It 's  beautiful,"  replied  Miss  Merivale.  "  And 
my  brother,  who  is  in  the  freshman  class,  says  it  be 
longs  to  the  College,  but  that  the  townspeople  have 
the  use  of  it." 

"  The  College  is  awfully  good  to  the  town  in  lots 
of  other  ways,  but  they  don't  appreciate  us  at  our  face 
value,"  observed  Tarbell,  quite  at  his  ease  now,  and 
studying  the  girl  with  the  teacup  as  if  she  were  some 
thing  quite  novel  in  his  experience.  "  You  see,  Miss 
Merivale,  we  are  noisy  sometimes,  and  they  don't  like 
to  have  us  run  through  the  streets  in  our  disreputable 
athletic  togs." 

"  Oh,  Mr.  Tarbell,"  she  cried  of  a  sudden,  "you  're 
on  the  football  team,  are  n't  you  ?  Will  said  you  were 
a  back-stop  or  something,  and  he  has  sent  me  bundles 

88 


INTO  THE   WORLD 

of  papers  with  your  picture  and  Mr.  Eldredge's.  I 
would  give  anything  to  see  one  of  those  games.  But 
we  live  so  dreadfully  far  away !  I  'm  coming,  though, 
and  you  must  n't  forget  that  I  'm  in  the  Grand  Stand. 
Will  must  bring  me." 

"  Yes,  he  must,  when  it 's  said  like  that,"  put  in 
James ;  and  Miss  Merivale  laughed  and  looked  so 
fetching  that  Tarbell  and  James,  oblivious  that  it 
was  only  a  tea,  sat  down  by  her  and  said  hundreds 
of  moderately  clever  things,  while  Colonel  Fitzhugh 
racked  his  agitated  brains  for  something  that  would 
keep  him  in  the  race.  And  Jack  listened,  too,  but 
ever  and  anon  he  looked  furtively  into  a  mirror  at 
the  reflection  of  somebody  who  was  pouring  tea  in 
a  far-off  corner  of  the  room.  About  her  was  a  crowd 
which  seemed  never  to  move  away.  Miss  Glenn, 
almost  hidden  in  large  palms,  poured  tea,  and  the 
people  about  her  crowded  closer  and  closer  until  Jack 
suddenly  came  to  and  realized  that  he  had  been 
staring  over  his  own  shoulder.  Miss  Merivale  cried, 
"  Penny  for  your  thoughts ! "  whereupon  he  said  some 
thing  commonplace  and  threaded  his  way  through  a 
thicket  of  people  till  he  came  to  the  samovar.  There 
he  stopped,  and  the  tea-pourer  held  out  her  hand. 

"  I  almost  thought  you  were  n't  coming,"  she  said. 
"  That  would  have  been  very  disappointing.  Would 
you  like  some  tea  ?  Sit  down  here  with  the  other 
tired  person,"  she  whispered,  smiling ;  and  Jack  sat 
down  almost  mechanically. 

"  It  must  be  very  tiresome  to  pour  tea  so  long," 
said  Jack. 

"  No,  that  is  n't  so  bad,"  she  answered,  "  but  it 's 
89 


BOYS  AND   MEN 

very  hard  to  talk  so  much  without  saying  anything. 
A  hundred  people  must  have  been  here,  and  I  can't 
remember  a  word  of  all  they  said.  I  wonder  what 
I  have  been  telling  them.  .  .  .  Who  is  that  big  man 
over  there  ?  "  she  asked. 

"  It 's  Tarbell.  He  called  with  us  the  other  even 
ing,  you  know." 

"  Will  he  come  here  ?  " 

"Now,  if  you  wish,"  said  Jack.  "Shall  I  get 
him?" 

"  No,  never  mind.  Will  you  be  at  the  german 
to-morrow  night  ?  " 

"  If  I  survive  a  few  more  teas,"  said  Eldredge. 

"I  thought  you  liked  teas,"  responded  Margaret, 
looking  at  Jack  for  an  instant  with  an  expression 
that  puzzled  him.  "  Don't  you  like  this  one  ?  " 

"  Yes,  very  much ;  but,  after  all,  it  seems  a  rather 
silly  way  of  getting  acquainted." 

"Oh!  Do  you  think  so  ?"  she  answered.  "There 
are  other  sillier  ways.  It  does  n't  make  much  differ 
ence  how.  It 's  afterwards  that  makes  the  difference." 

A  moment  later  some  one  came  and  expressed  a 
desire  to  present  Jack  to  somebody  or  other,  and 
Jack  rose  reluctantly  from  his  seat  by  the  palms. 

"  Good-bye  until  to-morrow,"  he  said ;  and  Margaret 
answered  with  a  nod  and  a  smile  which  seemed 
strangely  familiar,  and  as  he  followed  his  leader 
through  the  crowd  he  wondered  where  he  had  seen 
it.  Just  as  he  was  introduced  to  some  garrulous 
men  and  maidens  he  remembered  that  the  smile  was 
also  Joe's. 

The  group  to  which  Eldredge  was  presented  were 
90 


INTO  THE   WORLD 

all  talking  at  once.  The  men  he  knew,  but  the  girls 
were  evidently  freshly  arrived,  for  they  were  asking 
innumerable  questions  about  the  University  with  a 
volubility  which  seemed  to  seek  no  answer.  One 
aggressively  inquisitive  damsel  wanted  to  know  all 
about  the  secret  societies,  what  secrets  they  could 
have,  and  what  fliey  did  at  their  meetings.  The 
men  looked  very  much  embarrassed  —  which  is 
the  regular  attitude  in  such  matters  —  and  hailed 
Eldredge  with  relief.  He  had  scarcely  joined  the 
group  when  each  one  of  the  young  women  told  him 
how  often  she  had  seen  him  at  the  football  games, 
how  excited  she  got,  and  a  dozen  other  facts  in  such 
rapid  succession  that  he  could  hardly  say  a  word  in 
reply. 

"  Oh,  Mr.  Eldredge,"  exclaimed  an  ingdnue,  "  is  n't 
it  perfectly  lovely  to  be  a  football  man !  But  how 
horrible  it  must  be  to  have  somebody  grab  you  and 
throw  you  down  so  awfully !  How  do  you  ever  get 
up?  But  how  perfectly  fine  it  must  be  to  have 
thousands  of  people  cheering  you,  and  to  be  carried 
off  on  the  men's  shoulders !  And  then  in  college," 
she  rattled  on,  "  football  men  must  be  envied  by  every 
body.  Is  n't  it  horrid  that  girls'  colleges  have  n't  any 
such  things  ?  " 

Jack  scarcely  knew  what  to  say  in  reply  to  her 
volley  of  exclamations,  but  remarked  that  football 
was  good  exercise,  that  the  players  rarely  heard  the 
cheers  of  the  crowd  while  playing,  and  took  leave  of 
his  feminine  admirers,  several  of  whom  declared  that 
they  were  dreadfully  sorry  not  to  have  any  dances 
with  him.  As  he  passed  out,  he  caught  a  glimpse  of 

91 


BOYS   AND   MEN 

the  pretty  Southerner  still  surrounded  by  his  three 
classmates.  She  was  aglow  with  animation,  and  Tar- 
bell  seemed  as  entranced  as  if  he  were  listening  to 
a  spirited  comedy.  James  was  apparently  trying 
to  get  in  a  word  edgewise,  while  Fitzhugh's  back 
denoted  a  strong  desire  to  be  off  with  Miss  Merivale 
before  she  could  completely  beguile  his  companions 
with  her  stream  of  Southern  honey. 

That  evening  there  was  an  astonishingly  motley  dis 
play  of  apparel  at  the  Gourmet  Eating  Club,  —  every 
thing,  in  fact,  from  sweaters  to  raiment  finer  than  the 
lilies',  —  and  a  cross  play  of  bantering  good  humour 
and  comic  personalities.  Somebody  asked  Tarbell 
whether  he  thought  it  polite  to  concentrate  one's 
attention  at  a  tea ;  a  question  which  caused  a  some 
what  glum  expression  to  settle  upon  the  features  of 
Colonel  Thorndyke.  Eldredge  had  a  happy  way  of 
distracting  attention  from  himself  without  causing  it 
to  settle  upon  any  one  else,  —  a  divine  gift  if  you 
want  to  keep  your  friends.  But  most  of  the  chaff 
and  raillery  he  did  not  hear  nor  heed ;  he  fancied  him 
self  in  possession  of  Miss  Margaret  Glenn,  taking 
her  to  supper,  showing  her  the  college  grounds, 
escorting  her  to  chapel,  dancing  with  her  and  doing 
a  hundred  other  possible  and  impossible  things. 
Then  he  went  to  his  study  and  tried  to  work,  with  a 
net  result  of  three  downright  flunks  on  the  following 
day,  which  passed  unnoticed  in  the  general  ignorance 
brought  on  by  a  Junior  Promenade. 

Tarbell  could  n't  be  induced  to  attend  the  Sopho 
more  German.  He  did  n't  wish  to  "  queer  "  himself ; 
besides,  he  had  no  partner,  which  is  next  worst  to 

92 


INTO  THE  WORLD 

having  no  invitation.  But  everybody  went  to  the 
Glee  Club  Concert,  where  home-made  songs  are  sung 
to  German  airs,  and  freshmen  throw  cards  from  the 
gallery  and  dangle  puppets  over  pit  and  stage. 

After  the  performance  was  half  over,  Eldredge  went 
out  upon  the  street  to  cool.  There  he  met  James. 

"  'Evening,  Jack     Alone  ?  " 

"Do  I  look  together,  Bill?  Where  are  you 
bound?" 

"For  violets;  she  —  I  mean  Miss  Merivale  says 
she  loves  Yale  blue  —  I  'm  getting  some ;  "  and 
James  went  his  way  with  an  exuberantly  busy  look 
on  his  clean-cut  face.  He  was  in  the  mood  that 
causes  barbarians  to  whistle  and  larks  to  sing. 
Eldredge  had  had  enough  of  the  concert.  In  an  hour 
it  would  be  over  and  the  dancing  would  begin.  With 
his  hands  in  his  pockets  and  his  head  down,  he  took 
a  couple  of  turns  about  the  Green,  walking  to  kill 
time  and  to  ponder  what  to  say  to  Margaret.  When 
Eldredge  arrived  at  the  ballroom,  the  musicians  were 
making  their  preparatory  flourish.  His  partner,  who 
had  come  too  late  for  the  concert,  entered;  he  met 
her,  and  the  dancing  began. 

She  remarked  that  it  was  awful  slippery,  to  which 
he  responded  that  it  was  generally  so  in  Febru 
ary.  The  girl  laughed.  "I  meant  the  floor,  Mr. 
Eldredge." 

He  reproved  himself  mentally  for  being  an  absent- 
minded  dolt,  and  in  ten  seconds  had  again,  all  with 
out  knowing,  turned  his  eyes  to  a  part  of  the  great 
room  where  he  saw  Margaret  dancing.  So  evenly, 
so  gracefully  did  she  move  that  the  music  seemed 

93 


BOYS  AND   MEN 

to  keep  time  to  her  steps.  Her  abundant  hair  was 
gathered  in  a  knot,  in  one  hand  she  held  the  pale 
blue  folds  of  her  dress ;  she  was  smiling  with  the 
lovely  expression  of  health  and  youth. 

"  I  was  so  sorry  to  miss  the  concert,"  said  Jack's 
partner. 

"  I  was  very  sorry,  too,"  replied  Eldredge ;  "  it 
was  fine."  And  straightway  he  realized  having  told 
a  lie,  but  did  not  care. 

The  figure  changed.  He  was  dancing  with  Miss 
Merivale.  The  swing  and  excitement  of  the  first 
dance  had  reddened  her  dark  cheeks.  As  they  glided 
away,  she  cried,  "  Oh,  my  dreadful  hair ;  it 's  going 
to  come  down  !  "  and  for  an  instant  she  dropped  her 
partner's  hand  to  stop  with  the  dexterous  push  of  a 
pin  the  threatened  downfall. 

"  What  a  gorgeous  bunch  of  violets  ! "  said  Jack, 
pretending  to  sniff  their  fragrance,  though  his  nose 
was  well  out  of  range. 

"  My  other  flowers  were  crushed  and  wilted  at  the 
concert.  If  they  had  n't  been,  I  should  n't  be  wear 
ing  these.  But  they  're  sweet,  are  n't  they  ?  Will 
you  have  one,  Mr.  Eldredge  ?  " 

"  Yes,  just  one,"  said  Jack,  "  I  '11  put  it  in  my 
scrapbook  with  the  circumstances." 

"  But  there  are  n't  any,"  returned  Miss  Merivale, 
laughing. 

At  that  instant,  by  a  capricious  turn  of  the  dance, 
Eldredge  came  close  to  Miss  Margaret  Glenn.  She 
nodded  to  him  with  a  friendly  look  and  passed  by, 
moving  with  a  swift  and  vigorous  grace,  as  if  borne 
onward  by  no  effort  of  her  own.  Two  immense 

94 


INTO  THE  WORLD 

American  Beauties  blushed  and  bobbed  their  luxu 
rious  petals  against  the  fairness  of  her  skin.  She 
was  not  talking,  but  seemed  absorbed  in  the  ex 
hilarating  movement  of  the  dance. 

Again  the  figure  changed,  and  Jack  found  himself 
lugging  an  over-plump  and  clumsy  little  girl  who 
remarked  that  she  was  dreadfully  warm,  and  Jack 
replied  that  it  ivas  warm,  though  he  scarcely  heard 
what  she  was  saying.  He  only  knew  that  she  puffed 
very  hard,  and  that  she  reposed  upon  his  arm  like  an 
animated  ton. 

Just  then  James  went  by.  He  was  endeavouring 
to  steer  a  Gothic  tower  of  a  girl  who  had  evidently 
decided  on  some  other  course.  The  two  men  grinned, 
and  James  expressed  his  feelings  in  a  vulgar  but 
expressive  wink.  He  was  half  a  head  shorter  than 
his  architectural  damsel,  and  looked  it. 

Dance  followed  dance  in  intricate  succession,  but 
Fate  had  mixed  such  an  evil  lot  of  favours  that  all 
which  was  angular  and  uninteresting  seemed  to  be 
stow  itself  upon  Jack,  who  was  rapidly  developing 
an  unkind  opinion  of  an  arrangement  with  which  his 
will  had  so  little  to  do.  While  the  young  man  was 
in  this  mood,  it  came  about  that  the  ladies  should 
choose  partners.  He  saw  that  Miss  Glenn  was  com 
ing  toward  him.  She  might  have  taken  another  man 
who  was  nearer,  but  just  at  that  point  her  handker 
chief  dropped.  Both  men  started  to  pick  it  up,  but 
Eldredge  moved  more  swiftly.  Miss  Glenn  took  the 
handkerchief,  and,  as  they  passed  to  another  part  of 
the  room,  she  said,  "  I  was  afraid  you  would  n't  be 
quick  enough." 

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BOYS  AND   MEN 

"  Did  you  drop  it  —  " 

"  Yes,  on  purpose,"  replied  Margaret,  deliberately. 
Her  partner  would  have  given  much  to  see  her  face. 
They  were  dancing  to  the  lazy  strains  of  an  American 
waltz.  She  moved  so  lightly,  in  such  harmony,  that 
Eldredge  felt  no  weight  save  the  slight  pressure 
of  her  hand. 

"  Why  could  n't  you  come  into  our  box  ? "  she 
asked.  "Our  visitors  were  very  nice;  they  said 
pleasant  things  about  Joe's  guitar  playing,  though  I 
could  n't  distinguish  it  from  the  rest." 

Eldredge  was  relieved  that  she  did  not  again  ask 
him  why  he  had  not  come.  The  truth  was  that  Des 
mond  had  been  ahead  of  him,  and  that  he  felt  a  re 
pugnance  to  telling  women  about  feuds  with  other 
men.  For  a  few  moments  neither  spoke,  but  they 
glided  on  in  that  glamour  which  comes  from  the  spell 
of  stringed  instruments  and  the  regular  cadence  of 
the  dance. 

"  Where  is  Mr.  Tarbell  to-night?  "  asked  Margaret. 

"  He  would  n't  come,"  replied  her  partner.  "  Tarb 
has  known  how  to  dance  just  two  weeks." 

"  He  should  have  begun  sooner.  Mr.  Tarbell  is  n't 
a  bit  like  other  men,  and  is  n't  he  enormous !  Such 
big  men  are  fascinating  when  they  're  not  stupid." 

"Those  confounded  Germans  are  going  to  stop," 
said  Jack,  as  the  music  began  its  dying  flourish. 
"This  waltz  has  been  shorter  than  the  rest." 

"  The  clock  does  n't  say  so,"  answered  Miss  Glenn ; 
and  Eldredge  wondered  if  he  had  been  foolish.  The 
figure  came  to  an  end.  The  music  stopped.  Mar 
garet's  brother  took  her  off  to  supper,  and  Eldredge 

96 


INTO  THE   WORLD 

sought  his  own  partner.  He  was  in  a  state  of  exhila 
ration  that  made  his  tongue  run  fast,  and  he  talked  to 
her  with  such  enthusiasm  that  she  must  have  won 
dered  what  had  come  over  him. 

When  Glenn  and  Eldredge  went  to  bed,  it  was 
early  morning.  As  the  former  threw  off  his  clothes, 
he  yawned  between  the  words  that  he  would  be 
heartily  glad  when  the  fair  visitors  had  packed  their 
trunks  and  gone  home. 

"  You  're  sleepy,"  said  Jack. 

"  Dead,  man,  dead."     There  was  a  pause. 

Then  Glenn  said,  "  Jack,  why  the  deuce  did  n't 
you  bring  a  sister  to  the  Prom?" 

"  It 's  too  bad  I  had  n't  one,"  replied  Jack. 

"  Oh,  of  course,  —  well,  good-night." 

Eldredge  heard  his  chum  roll  into  a  comfortable 
position.  He  felt  quite  awake  himself,  as  if  it  had 
been  mid-day,  and  he  fell  to  wondering  why.  Also 
he  asked  himself  more  and  more  questions,  until  it 
occurred  to  him  that  he  had  never  thought  so  much 
about  his  own  affairs  in  his  life  before  ;  certainly  not 
at  that  time  of  night.  As  he  lay  in  bed,  everything 
rose  brilliantly  before  him,  —  the  lights,  the  men,  the 
women  and  their  flowers.  He  heard  again  the  music 
and  the  murmur  of  voices  and  laughter,  and  two  fig 
ures  came  upon  the  scene,  —  one  of  whom  was  him 
self,  the  other  a  tall  and  radiant  girl,  with  hair  yellow 
as  goldenrod,  and  two  nodding  roses  of  a  gorgeous 
red.  The  figures  swept  by  and  vanished,  and  his 
mind  refused  to  conjure  them  back  again. 


97 


xn 

MARGARET   GLENN 

THE  committee  of  arrangements  for  the  Prom, 
had  done  its  work  to  a  nicety.  Not  a  carriage 
collided,  not  a  musician  failed  to  come  in  time ;  the 
attendance  was  perfect.  The  Glenns  asked  Eldredge 
to  occupy  the  fourth  seat  in  their  carriage,  —  which 
was  just  half  as  pleasant  as  it  might  have  been. 
When  they  reached  the  Armory,  the  opening  prome 
nade  had  just  begun,  —  a  sort  of  skirmish  for  the 
dresses  which  eye  one  another  slyly  while  they  pre 
tend  to  listen  to  phrases  they  scarcely  hear.  On  one 
side  is  an  orchestra;  on  the  other,  a  band  half  hid 
den  in  flowers.  The  procession  is  quite  young;  its 
average  age  is  hardly  beyond  the  teens.  Most  of 
those  who  are  marching  have  been  looking  forward  to 
this  occasion  for  months;  some  have  come  from  as 
far  as  the  Pacific  Coast.  Every  State  has  sent  a 
sample  of  its  kind;  some  very  fair,  and  others  of  the 
human  average. 

Presently  the  end  of  the  line  goes  waltzing  off  and 
the  others  follow,  moving  in  and  out,  but  always 
in  one  direction,  like  the  colours  of  a  kaleidoscope. 
Off  yonder  a  huge  man  is  revolving  with  a  little  Miss 
Muffett.  At  times  he  completely  hides  her,  so  that 
he  appears  to  be  dancing  alone,  but  the  little  Miss 
Muffett  is  safe  from  collisions.  The  big  man's  coat- 

98 


MARGARET   GLENN 

tails  have  a  tendency  to  flop,  and  he  is  possibly  count 
ing  One,  Two,  Three,  One,  Two,  Three,  while  his 
partner  prattles  about  little  things  that  are  easy  to 
forget  and  that  neither  help  nor  harm. 

"Have  you  been  to  many  dances  lately?"  inquires 
little  Miss  Muffett. 

"Yes,  indeed,"  replies  the  big  man;  "every  day 
except  Sunday  for  the  last  three  weeks." 

"How  delightful!  But  you  must  be  dreadfully 
tired."  The  big  man  is  again  counting  One,  Two, 
Three,  One,  Two,  Three,  and  answers  her  not. 

The  waltz  ended,  little  Miss  Muffett  is  returned  to 
her  chaperone,  and  the  big  man  strides  towards  a 
certain  box.  In  a  second  the  band  strikes  up  a  two- 
step  polka,  and  all  the  couples  go  off  with  a  reckless 
dash.  It  is  a  peculiarly  American  dance,  rollick- 
some  as  the  Virginia  reel. 

"The  german  was  very  pretty,"  said  the  big  man's 
new  partner. 

"I  know  it  was,"  he  responded;  "the  boys  all  say 
so." 

"Why  didn't  you  go,  Mr.  Tarbell?" 

"I  didn't  dare  risk  it,  Miss  Glenn."  Here  he  had 
to  pay  all  his  attention  to  a  reverse. 

"What  a  funny  idea!  "  said  Margaret.  "Germans 
are  perfectly  harmless ;  you  only  have  to  follow  the 
leader." 

"But  you  have  a  partner,"  said  Tarbell.  "She 
might  be  trampled  to  death.  It  makes  less  differ 
ence  here.  There  is  more  room." 

At  that  instant  some  reckless  youth  collided  with 
Tarbell,  who  kept  his  two  hundred  pounds  moving  as 

99 


BOYS  AND   MEN 

if  he  had  been  a  ship  running  against  a  snag  and 
bearing  it  easily  aside. 

"  Never  mind,  Miss  Glenn,  we  're  perfectly  safe  on 
that  side.  Luckily  this  is  a  two-step." 

"Oh,  I  feel  quite  secure,"  said  Margaret,  laugh 
ing;  "but  I  have  a  waltz  with  you  —  number  seven." 
She  suddenly  remembered  that  Joe  had  offered  two 
of  her  square  dances  to  Tarbell,  and  that  number  seven 
had  been  reserved  for  her  brother.  Tarbell  was  think 
ing  that  he  would  much  rather  do  number  seven 
than  not,  and  Margaret  was  wondering  why  her 
partner  hadn't  learned  to  dance  sooner. 

"Do  you  dance  for  fun ?  No,  no  —  I  mean  do  you 
like  to  dance,  Mr.  Tarbell?" 

"Yes,"  he  said,  "I  've  come  to  believe  I  do." 

"I  love  it,"  said  Margaret,  "especially  when  the 
music  is  so  beautiful.  It  seems  as  if  we  were  float 
ing  away  without  effort;  and  how  amusing  it  is  to 
overhear  a  few  words  of  some  sentence  and  wonder 
what  the  rest  of  it  might  have  been!  " 

Tarbell  was  wondering  how  she  could  say  so  much 
without  losing  the  gait,  but  he  felt  he  was  learning 
faster  than  ever  he  had  at  Professor  de  Kiel's.  The 
music  stopped;  there  was  a  clapping  of  hands,  and 
the  band  struck  up  another  air  suggestive  of  a  negro 
clog.  A  fat  Teuton  beat  time  with  his  baton,  while 
the  dancers  sped  more  gayly  still.  Then  the  players 
blew  a  final  blast,  and  rising  together,  stamped  a  jig 
for  the  end.  Tarbell  escorted  Miss  Glenn  to  her  box 
and  hastened  to  Miss  Merivale,  who  was  as  lively  as 
a  freshly  opened  bottle  of  champagne.  Whenever 
they  had  a  clear  floor  Tarbell  talked  entertainingly, 

100 


MARGARET  .GLENN.. .,-,  ;>.-,;;   - 

and  although  Miss  Merivale  Kept  time  with  the  six 
teenth  notes  of  the  music,  she  really  seemed  to  be 
saying  something.  Here  was  the  second  girl  who 
could  talk  and  dance  at  the  same  time.  He  began  to 
suspect  they  must  all  be  that  way. 

"I'm  having  a  lovely  time,  Mr.  Tarbell.  Yale  is 
a  perfect  dream.  I  reckon  I  'd  like  it  so  much  I  never 
could  get  away  if  I  stayed  much  longer." 

Something  like  half  a  minute  later  Tarbell  said, 
"We  like  it,"  but  so  nearly  stepped  on  the  small  foot 
of  his  partner  that  he  resolved  to  keep  silent  unless 
compelled  to  speak. 

Meanwhile  Eldredge  was  dancing  with  Miss  Glenn. 

"Can't  you  stay  longer  than  to-morrow?"  asked 
Jack. 

"No,  I  don't  believe  we  can.  Poor  Joe  is  bothered 
to  death  already.  He  yawns  every  time  I  look  at 
him." 

"I  had  always  supposed  Joe  was  a  man  of  sense." 

"Be  careful  what  you  say  about  my  brother." 

"  I  do  value  him  very  highly,  but  it 's  possible  for 
him  to  become  a  secondary  consideration." 

That  was  rash,  for  the  girl  retorted,  "  Not  to  me, " 
so  quickly  that  Jack  wished  he  had  said  something 
else. 

"And  if  you  go  to-morrow,"  he  went  on  recklessly, 
"  when  are  you  coming  back  ?  " 

"Perhaps  in  a  year."  They  were  at  the  end  of  the 
immense  ball-room,  freer  from  the  blare  of  the  band 
and  the  swirl  of  the  crowded  dancers. 

"Let's  sit  down  a  moment  by  these  palms,"  said 
Margaret.  "  How  warm  it  is !  My  cheeks  are  like 

101 


BOYS   AND   MEN 


two  spots  of  fire/'  She  threw  her  head  back,  as  if 
to  let  the  cool  air  blow  upon  her  throat.  As  Eldredge 
watched  the  come  and  go  of  the  dance,  Tarbell  and 
his  partner  passed  and  gave  the  couple  on  the  bench 
a  nod.  For  an  instant  Jack  was  inclined  to  laugh  at 
Tarbell's  determined  glare ;  then  he  did  n't,  —  the 
grim  will  of  the  man  almost  stirred  him  to  awe. 

As  the  couple  passed  on,  Margaret's  fan  hid  the 
intentness  of  the  look  with  which  she  followed  them. 

"Mr.  Tarbell  has  magnificent  pluck,"  she 
exclaimed. 

"He  's  the  grittiest  man  in  Yale,"  answered 
Eldredge.  "  If  he  was  n't  you  would  n't  see  him  here. 
He  's  got  a  fearful  idea  into  his  head  that  he  can't 
dance.  Ridiculous,  isn't  it?  I'd  risk  something 
that  he  's  thinking  of  every  little  rule  at  this 
moment." 

"He  's  quite  right,"  said  Margaret.  "A  man  who 
steps  on  his  partner's  toes  is  sure  to  lose  her  good 
opinion." 

"And  if  he  does  it  figuratively?"  inquired  Jack, 
with  unwonted  brilliance. 

"Figuratively,  sometimes;  literally,  always.  The 
music  is  going  to  stop.  We  '11  go  to  the  box.  I 
wonder  who  my  next  is  ?  Oh,  yes !  Mr.  —  Mr. 
Desmond.  What  horrid  writing!  " 

"He's  nearly  illiterate,"  said  Jack,  so  curtly  that 
Miss  Glenn  might  have  noticed  it. 

"Some  people  who  write  very  badly  are  really 
rather  nice  on  nearer  acquaintance,"  she  replied  with 
an  air  of  indifference.  "Perhaps  I  shall  find  him 
quite  interesting." 

102 


MARGARET   GLENN 

Whereupon  Eldredge  left  Miss  Glenn  in  time  to 
avoid  a  meeting,  and  started  toward  his  next  partner, 
—  a  very  clever  girl,  who  said  things  which  in  intel 
lectual  circles  might  have  passed  for  epigrams,  but 
they  were  wasted  on  Jack.  He  answered  almost  as 
mechanically  as  he  was  dancing,  saying  such  things 
as  will  fit  any  question.  And  thus  he  went  with 
another  and  another  still,  while  the  musicians  behind 
the  rows  of  palms  scraped  and  tooted  the  night  away, 
and  the  flowers  grew  more  jaded,  and  the  handsome 
apparel  began  to  get  the  bedraggled  look  that  even 
clothes  may  have  from  keeping  late  hours. 

One  person  was  certainly  not  entirely  happy.  His 
dignity  —  or  vanity,  if  you  will  —  was  deeply  wounded 
because  a  girl  with  blackest  hair  and  a  mellow  voice 
that  burred  no  rrs  had  allowed  herself,  after  the 
unconsciously  natural  manner  of  her  kind,  to  forget 
the  delicate  discrimination  due.  As  he  saw  her  there, 
time  and  again,  dancing  with  a  happy  abandon,  saying 
with  a  smile  upon  her  lips  the  words  he  would  have 
heard  uttered  in  response  to  some  brilliancy  of  his 
own,  there  arose  in  the  breast  of  Mr.  Fitzhugh  Clif 
ton  Thorndyke  a  sensation  which  he  believed  to  be 
warranted  indignation  at  the  infringement  of  the 
courtesy  which  one  man  owes  another.  Meanwhile 
the  offender,  who  had  really  done  no  more  than  take 
by  connivance  what  others  had  missed  by  chance,  was 
making  the  best  of  flighty  time  by  putting  into  one 
word  what  in  all  decency  of  respectable  delay  should 
go  into  three.  As  James  and  Miss  Merivale  floated, 
half  dizzy  with  the  sway  and  rapture  of  the  dance, 
dominated  by  the  sensuous  spell  of  music,  they  said 

103 


BOYS   AND   MEN 

such  words  as  could  not  well  be  spoken  in  cold  blood 
when  the  length  of  acquaintance  is  but  one  brief 
week.  The  mellow  Southerner  had  found  in  James  a 
sort  of  virile  likeness  of  her  ways,  the  whimsical  emo 
tions,  the  quick  and  hearty  response  to  the  presence 
of  an  ideal,  of  which  a  hard  and  thin-lipped  race  is 
so  often  devoid. 

"Isn't  it  beautiful!  "  exclaimed  Miss  Merivale. 

"  Yes,  but  it  is  going  to  end  very  soon  —  in  another 
hour.  Are  you  going  home  in  the  morning?" 

"At  noon.     Come  and  see  me  off,  will  you?" 

James  recollected  that  he  had  a  class  at  that  hour. 
If  he  "cut,"  his  marks  would  be  within  two  of  rusti 
cation;  so  he  hedged. 

"Wouldn't  Fitz  think  I  was  intruding?" 

"Never  mind  Fitz;  I  could  manage  him  right 
easily,  Mr.  James.  You  know  Fitz  and  I  were,  you 
might  say,  bred  and  born  in  the  very  same  town." 

"I'll  come,"  said  James.  He  would  have  done 
well  to  refuse. 

It  was  a  couple  of  hours  before  dawn  when  the 
dancers  began  to  trip  less  briskly  the  final  numbers 
of  the  Promenade.  The  wallflowers  wore  a  look  of 
protracted  boredom,  and  the  chaperones  followed  the 
movements  of  their  wards  with  a  weariness  not  always 
well  concealed.  Even  the  orchestra  and  band  were 
beginning  to  show  sleepy  signs  of  wishing  to  cease 
altogether  the  notes  which  were  no  longer  music.  In 
the  final  lancers  Jack  danced  with  Margaret,  and 
Tarbell  with  Mrs.  Glenn.  At  last  Tarbell  was  on  an 
easy  footing.  Indeed,  he  was  the  only  one  in  the  set 
who  knew  the  figures,  which  he  called  off  in  the 

104 


MARGARET   GLENN 

peculiar  manner  of  Professor  de  Riel,  —  "  chassez, 
dozy-doe  ;  "  and  the  ladies  executed  the  various  con 
volutions,  laughing  again  and  again  at  Tarbell's  dry 
imitation  of  his  dancing-master.  Mrs.  Glenn,  charm 
ing  with  the  grace  that  comes  of  blood,  looked  what 
Margaret  would  some  day  be.  Resplendent  with  a 
beauty  that  the  hours  could  not  jade,  at  moments 
hardly  conscious  of  those  about  her,  and  perfectly 
serene,  Margaret  went  through  the  dance,  while  Tar- 
bell  jested,  and  Jack,  a  prey  to  the  sensuous  charm, 
could  scarce  refrain  from  betraying  how  utterly  he 
had  fallen  under  the  spell.  But  none  saw,  save  one 
alone,  who  beamed  on  him  with  impartial  grace.  As 
she  put  both  hands  in  his,  oblivious  of  all  else,  he  felt 
the  magic  thrill,  and  there  rose  into  his  throat  words 
he  could  not  and  dared  not  say. 


105 


XIII 

WHEN  FRIENDS  FALL  OUT 

THE  expected  and  the  unexpected  happened. 
Shortly  before  a  mid-day  train  drew  out  of  the 
station  with  much  of  the  beauty  that  was,  she  —  the 
brown  maid  from  the  South  —  stood  outside  while  her 
chaperone  was  attending  to  small  luggage,  and  said 
several  good-byes,  each  of  which  was  very  sad. 

"Oh,  Fitz,  it  has  been  lovely  from  beginning  to 
end ! "  And  then,  as  she  saw  his  face,  the  realiza 
tion  came  that  she  had  been  very  unkind.  His  ex 
pression  was  saying  plainly  enough :  "  At  my  expense ! 
and  here  you  are  putting  pepper  into  the  wound!" 
That  is  why  she  ventured  to  say:  "My  dear  Fitz, 
how  good  you  have  been!  I  shall  always  think  of 
the  Promenade  with  so  much  pleasure.  Don't  forget 
to  send  the  photographs  for  my  album ; "  but  her 
sweet  tones  fell  upon  his  heated  brain  like  drops  of 
water  on  a  white-hot  iron.  He  was  sizzling  within, 
and,  despite  his  best  efforts,  could  think  of  nothing 
cold  or  cutting  to  reply,  —  nothing  that  would  show 
in  a  gentleman's  best  style  how  she  had  trampled 
upon  his  rights,  very  gracefully  indeed  and  in  silken 
slippers,  but  trampled  none  the  less.  What  stirred 
him  to  a  still  deeper  indignation  was  the  presence  of 
this  intruder  who  called  himself  a  friend. 

106 


WHEN  FRIENDS  FALL   OUT 

She  said,  "Good -bye,  Fitz,"  once  more,  and  he 
gave  her  a  "Good-bye,  Miss  Merivale,"  which  should 
have  sent  an  arrow  of  compunction  through  her  heart ; 
but  she  had  laid  her  well -shaped  hand  into  the  other's 
for  one  brief  instant,  and  was  saying,  "  You  will  re 
member  "  in  a  way  which  caused  the  other  to  press 
the  hand,  while  a  look  passed  between  them  of  such 
meaning  that  the  situation  might  have  become  ex 
tremely  difficult  had  the  train  remained  for  the  rest 
of  the  day.  When  it  pulled  out,  the  two  men  stood 
bowing  to  a  certain  window  until  it  was  lost  to  sight; 
then  they  looked  at  each  other,  and  James  said,  — 

"Fitz,  are  you  going  to  take  a  car,  or  will  you 
walk?" 

"I  '11  walk,"  he  replied  very  haughtily,  and  turn 
ing  his  back  upon  James,  strode  off  with  a  wrathful 
expression  on  his  brow,  while  James  calmly  stopped 
to  light  his  pipe,  and  went  his  way  as  placidly  as  if 
he  had  cut  no  recitation  and  were  merely  out  for  a 
stroll.  So  completely  was  he  absorbed  in  inward 
contemplation  that  he  quite  forgot  his  friend's  curt 
departure,  and  thought  of  him  no  more  till  they  sat 
face  to  face  at  dinner.  Thorndyke  had  no  word  to 
say,  but  glowered  as  if  every  pea  on  his  plate  were 
causing  him  a  separate  offence.  When  Jack  arrived, 
he  slapped  Fitzhugh  playfully  on  the  back  with  a, 
"  Hello,  Colonel !  What 's  the  good  word  from 
Dixie?" 

"  Careful  there,  Jack ! "  cried  somebody  else. 
"  The  Colonel 's  chewing  a  rag !  "  and  everybody 
yelled,  "Grouch!  Grouch!" 

"Let  him  be,"  said  Billy;  "don't  you  see  the  man 
107 


BOYS   AND   MEN 

needs  sleep?  Get  Budson  to  give  you  one  of  his 
celebrated  Morpheus  pills,  Colonel.  All  you  want  is 
twenty-four  hours  of  absolute  rest."  The  glower 
was  becoming  more  animated. 

"I  fear,"  remarked  Glenn,  "that  the  excitement  of 
the  past  few  days  has  unsettled  the  Colonel's  nerves." 
The  glower  was  changing  to  an  expression  of  wrath. 

"If  anything  has  gone  wrong,  tell  us,"  exclaimed 
Drake,  with  a  gruesome  attempt  at  pathos. 

"What  is  it  that  it  is?"  said  another,  who  had 
studied  French. 

"You  fellows  remind  me  of  a  pack  of  jackasses," 
growled  the  Colonel. 

"Well  said,"  remarked  Tarbell,  amidst  the  hub 
bub;  "you  've  described  their  meat  to  a  T." 

"To  a  nice  T,"  said  some  punster. 

There  were  cries  of  "  Slay  him !  "  "  Put  him  out ! " 
"  A  man  who  'd  do  that  would  be  capable  of  anything !  " 
and  there  was  such  an  uproar  of  good-natured  invec 
tive  and  laughter  that  Mrs.  Jones  put  her  head 
through  the  doorway  and  asked  if  any  of  the  gentle 
men  wished  anything,  which  was  a  gentle  fashion  of 
telling  them  to  make  less  noise.  But  Fitzhugh's 
face  continued  to  wear  an  expression  of  sullen  indig 
nation,  and  a  scorn  that  was  all  but  comic.  The  Yale 
mood  is  not  prone  to  investigation ;  it  simply  expects 
a  man  to  be  good-humoured  in  season  and  out  of 
season. 

From  fish  to  dessert  there  was  a  popping  of  satirical 
remarks  which  at  moments  became  a  volley,  and  the 
unhappy  victim  of  thwarted  affection  could  do  nothing 
but  brook  it,  though  the  fires  of  his  wrath  were  in- 

108 


WHEN  FRIENDS  FALL   OUT 

wardly  consuming.  His  indignation  was  rising  to  a 
dangerous  degree,  and  poor  James,  from  being  an 
impertinent  rival,  was  fast  becoming  an  enemy.  The 
diaphragm  of  Colonel  Fitzhugh  Thorndyke  was  turn 
ing  to  a  Homeric  black,  and  his  combative  blood  was 
beginning  to  course  through  his  veins  as  it  had 
through  the  veins  of  his  fighting  ancestors.  The 
highest  pitch  was  reached  when  the  Club  passed  into 
the  street,  for  there  the  chief  offender  was  so  rash 
as  to  put  his  hand  on  the  Southerner's  shoulder  and 
say,  "Never  mind,  Colonel,  old  boy;  your  turn  will 
come."  Thorndyke  flared  up  like  a  sputtering  pin- 
wheel,  and  his  emotion  found  utterance  all  at  once. 

"Take  your  hand  off  my  shoulder!"  he  cried. 
"  You  're  the  worst  of  the  lot,  and  you  've  got  a  cheek 
tryin'  to  pretend  you  aren't." 

Billy  burst  out  laughing,  which  made  the  Colonel 
so  furious  that  he  stood  for  an  instant  beneath  a 
flickering  street  lamp,  glaring  at  him  with  an  expres 
sion  of  unutterable  scorn. 

"  There  's  one  thing,  Mr.  James,  you  'd  do  well  to 
learn,  and  that  is  that  you  're  not  a  gentleman.  Your 
action  is  positively  indecent,  and  has  been  from  begin- 
nin'  to  end.  I  must  say,"  he  went  on  in  vague  but 
passionate  style,  "I  must  say  that  your  notions  of 
courtesy  seem  to  be  of  such  a  peculiar  sort  that  I  '11 
have  nothing  more  to  do  with  you." 

"But,  Colonel,"  gasped  Billy,  in  astonishment 
well  shammed,  "  what  in  the  devil  have  I  done  ?  For 
goodness'  sake,  out  with  it  and  don't  be  an  ass!  " 

"  You  need  n't  call  me  Colonel,  and  you  'd  better 
not  call  me  an  ass.  I  don't  count  on  takin'  any 

109 


BOYS   AND   MEN 

more  of  your  nonsense.  If  you  've  got  an  apology  in 
you,  make  it  right  here ;  otherwise  you  may  cease  to 
reckon  me  among  your  friends." 

James  looked  very  stiffly  at  the  Colonel  and  said: 
"You  can  go  plumb  to  if  you  think  I  'm  going  to 
make  any  silly  apologies.  I  've  done  no  more  than 
anybody  else.  If  you  want  an  apology,  just  draw  one 
up  and  ask  me  to  sign."  The  last  sarcasm  was  more 
than  Fitzhugh  could  stand.  With  a  look  of  scorn, 
he  strode  off,  leaving  James  both  angry  and  per 
plexed.  Tarbell,  Eldredge,  and  Glenn  had  stood  at 
a  decent  distance,  waiting  for  the  row  to  subside. 
Now  they  came  up  and  asked  James  what  the  deuce 
he  and  the  Colonel  had  been  squabbling  about. 

"  The  Lord  knows !  "  said  James.  "  He  's  gone 
away  red-hot,  but  maybe  he'll  sleep  it  off." 

"Go  and  tell  him  you're  sorry,  Billy,"  advised 
Eldredge. 

"Not  on  your  life!"  ejaculated  James.  "D'ye 
imagine  I  'm  going  to  tell  him  I  'm  sorry  because  he 
has  acted  like  a  spoiled  child?" 

"Don't  you  care,  Billy,"  said  Glenn.  "The 
Colonel  will  get  well  before  morning;  he  probably 
needs  sleep."  (Glenn  attributed  every  human  emo 
tion  to  some  physical  cause.)  "Where  are  you  bound 
for  now?" 

"To  grind,"  said  Tarbell. 

"The  same  here,"  quoth  Jack.  "Well,  'evening, 
Bill !  Don't  sit  up  too  late !  " 

They  wended  their  separate  ways,  —  James  to  his 
abode  by  the  lumber  yard,  and  the  three  others  to 
their  dens  on  the  Campus.  Each  had  a  guess  to 

110 


WHEN  FRIENDS   FALL  OUT 

explain  Thorndyke's  dudgeon,  but  he  alone  really 
knew  and  he  was  too  weak  to  tell.  Human  nature, 
in  his  person,  was  denying  the  truth  with  the  self- 
deception  usual  in  cases  of  offended  vanity. 
•  Eldredge  couldn't  help  thinking  of  a  certain  un 
pleasant  experience  of  his  own,  but  then  he  knew 
perfectly  the  why  and  wherefore  of  that  matter.  The 
resemblance  did  not  go  very  far.  For  some  weeks 
he  had  scrupulously  avoided  any  meeting,  and  being 
of  a  sound  temperament,  rarely  thought  of  Desmond 
and  never  worried.  One  fact  puzzled  him,  and  that 
was  how  the  man  had  escaped  being  dropped.  He 
had  evidently  failed  in  a  sufficient  number  of  exam 
inations  to  warrant  the  Faculty  in  closing  relations, 
but  they  hadn't;  and  there  was  Desmond  quite  as 
before,  the  same  interested  place-hunter,  the  same 
skilful  wire-puller,  artfully  bringing  himself  into 
prominence,  enjoying  the  favour  that  he  needed,  flunk 
ing  his  lessons  and  cheating  his  tradesmen. 

As  Jack  and  his  chum  sat  down  to  work,  Jack 
asked  Glenn  in  an  indifferent  way  whether  Desmond 
had  got  out  of  his  difficulty  with  the  Faculty. 

"Which?"  inquired  Glenn. 

"I  wasn't  aware  there  were  two,"  replied  Eldredge. 

Glenn  rose  and  went  to  the  window-seat,  putting 
his  back  against  it. 

"It's  a  strange  thing,"  he  remarked  reflectively, 
"  what  a  fool  that  fellow  is.  I  heard  him  say  some 
thing  in  a  certain  place  a  few  nights  ago  —  " 

"At ?" 

"Yes,  to  a  couple  of  bosom  friends.  Oh,  it  was 
pure  chance." 

Ill 


BOYS  AND   MEN 

"What  was  it,  Joe?" 

"In  a  dozen  words  just  this:  He  flunked  dead; 
wrote  a  windy  excuse  about  being  taken  with  sudden 
dizziness ;  thought  that  would  n't  go  down,  and  walked 
out  with  his  papers  in  his  pocket." 

"How  did  that  save  him?" 

"He  is  a  low-lived  animal,  Jack.  You  've  never 
seen  him  at  his  best.  Just  think  of  the  cheek  —  and 
to  tell  it  of  himself!  When  the  papers  were  cor 
rected,  his  was  missed,  naturally.  Well,  he  asked  for 
his  mark,  and,  when  they  said  his  paper  was  missing, 
he  pretended  to  feel  terribly  bad.  You  ought  to  have 
heard  his  gall  in  telling  it.  He  swore  to  the  exam 
iners,  by  all  that 's  holy,  he  had  handed  in  the  paper, 
and  that  it  was  the  best  piece  of  work  he'd  ever  done. 
Great  heavens!  The  man  seems  to  have  no  more 
honour  than  a  pirate." 

"And  they  accepted  his  excuse!"  exclaimed 
Eldredge,  with  disgust.  "Joe,  if  ever  I  see  my 
chance,  I  '11  cook  his  goose.  Is  that  all  he  said?" 

"All  I  heard." 

"Didn't  he  mention  me?" 

"No;  why  should  he?" 

"  Simply  because  he  wanted  me  to  help  him  on  that 
occasion,  and  called  me  a  blank  hypocrite  because  I 
wouldn't  —  nice  boy!  Bill  has  some  pretty  tales, 
too;  but  for  heaven's  sake,  let's  talk  of  something 
pleasant!  That  man  is  worse  than  indigestion. 
What 's  the  trig,  for  to-morrow,  Joe  ?  " 

"  Next  three  pages ; "  and  nothing  more  was  said  of 
Desmond. 

The   two   men   sat   down  and  "  boned "  for  three 
112 


WHEN  FRIENDS  FALL   OUT 

hours.  Then  Tarbell  came  in  with  Budson,  and 
they  played  cards,  while  Budson  told  wonderful  tales 
about  games  of  poker  in  the  Far  West  in  which  he 
had  taken  part,  or  of  which  he  had  heard  tell,  until 
Eldredge  began  to  yawn  continuously,  and  Budson 
trumped  his  partner's  ace.  Otherwise  they  might 
have  played  until  morning.  What  more  natural  way 
of  recovering  four  nights  of  lost  sleep? 


113 


XIV 

THE  TEMPLE  BAR 

FOR  a  week  the  two  men  ignored  each  other  so 
obviously  that  the  Eating  Club  began  to  look 
upon  the  matter  as  a  normal  condition.  Thorndyke 
glared  in  James's  direction  without  appearing  to  see 
him,  and  James  affected  a  don't-care  look  by  which 
he  himself  was  bored  excessively.  During  the 
second  week  he  made  overtures  which  were  met  with 
chilling  disdain.  Then  the  Club  began  to  be 
annoyed,  and  twitted  the  two  men  mercilessly,  espe 
cially  Thorndyke.  He  was  immovable.  Meanwhile 
James  had  been  raking  over  the  ashes  of  his  recent 
history  and  had  made  a  discovery,  very  vague  at  first, 
but  then  clearer  and  clearer,  till  he  reached  a  solu 
tion  which  satisfied  him.  Having  considered  the 
ethics  of  the  matter,  he  concluded  that  his  behaviour 
had  been  correct  beyond  question,  save  in  the  one 
particular  of  going  to  the  train,  —  a  privilege  which 
he  might  in  all  charity  have  left  to  Thorndyke.  He 
made  more  overtures,  and  then  withdrew  under  the 
impression  that  the  Colonel  had  mistaken  his  flag  of 
truce  for  the  white  rag  of  surrender.  The  absurd 
situation  might  have  continued  indefinitely  had  not 
Heaven  and  the  Devil  joined  forces  to  set  matters 
right. 

114 


THE  TEMPLE   BAR 

It  began  in  a  small  white  house,  in  a  small  side 
street  where  the  Golden  Buck  chases  the  Welsh  Rab 
bit,  and  both  are  drowned  in  pewter  tobies,  —  where 
upper  classmen  sit  numerously  at  mahogany  tables  to 
retail  the  oldest  and  the  youngest  tales.  To  men  of 
a  certain  kind  it  is  a  Holy  of  the  Unholies,  is  the 
Temple  Bar;  for,  since  time  out  of  mind,  they  who 
study  little  and  they  who  study  much  have  fore 
gathered  here,  and  you  may  still  see  the  epitaphs  of 
their  youth  graven  on  a  mahogany  slab  which  is  fas 
tened  to  the  wall.  T.  T.  —  that  stands  for  Thomas 
Tarbell;  and  J.  E.  Jr.  means,  no  doubt,  John 
Eldredge.  Against  the  old-fashioned  wall-paper 
hang  ancient  prints,  and  on  the  shelf  above  are  mugs 
and  tankards,  some  of  them  scratched  with  the  rude 
initials  of  forgotten  names.  A  quaint  and  orderly 
place  it  is,  with  its  crooked  halls  and  smoky  ceilings. 

At  a  corner  table,  on  the  evening  of  that  February 
day,  Fitzhugh  sat  alone.  His  gloom  seemed  to  enfold 
him  as  thickly  as  the  turgid  smoke  that  issued  from 
the  browning  meerschaum  pipe.  Men  came  and  men 
went,  but  he  saw  them  not.  The  Colonel  was  dis 
gusted  with  the  world  and  was  beginning  to  be  dis 
gusted  with  himself.  The  unhappy  idea  was  just 
dawning  upon  him  that  he  perhaps  had  lost  what  he 
had  really  never  owned ;  also,  that  he  had  quarrelled 
childishly  with  a  friend  and  made  a  fool  of  himself. 
So  he  resorted  to  the  toby  to  dull  his  discontent,  and 
the  toby  made  so  many  voyages  to  the  vat  that  his 
mind  began  to  see  matters  in  an  entirely  different 
light.  He  was  growing  mellow  and  regretful.  An 
environment  may  do  strange  things  —  especially  when 

115 


BOYS  AND   MEN 

it  contains  tobies.  He  longed  to  be  his  former  self, 
to  appear  otherwise  than  in  the  humorous  plight  of 
being  laughed  at  for  an  indignation  which  he  had  n't 
the  courage  to  explain. 

Several  times  he  looked  into  the  toby  through  the 
amber-tinted  glass,  as  if  seeking  to  straighten  out  his 
thoughts.  Vicariously  the  toby  began  to  do  its  work. 
Then  James  came,  and  as  he  passed  the  corner,  he 
half  nodded,  and  the  man  in  the  corner  nodded  back 
and  said  "  Good-evening  "  in  a  subdued  voice.  The 
main  room  was  crowded ;  so  James  returned  and  sat 
down  near  the  man  in  the  corner,  and  ordered  grilled 
sardines.  When  the  grilled  sardines  appeared,  the 
toby  had  changed  tables. 

"I  want  you  to  understand,"  said  the  Colonel, 
"that  this  has  been  merely  a  misunderstandin'.  I 
was  a  dog-gone  fool.  Yes,  that 's  just  what  I  was. 
Give  me  your  hand,  Billy.  —  That 's  very  good ! 
When  a  fellow  gives  me  his  hand,  I  know  he  means 
it.  That's  the  reason  I  know  you  mean  it.  Are 
more  explanations  necessary  ?  If  so,  let 's  have  a  toby. 
—  Two  tobies  for  two  topers.  —  No,  excuse  me,  of 
course  you  are  n't,  but  I  am,  and  I  'm  sorry  for  it  — 
I  'm  sorry  for  everything  except  this.  What 's  the 
use  of  it  anyway  so  long  as  a  fellow  's  got  friends !  I 
say,  let 's  share  alike,  and  the  man  that  wins  is  enti 
tled  to  what  he  gets.  Does  that  meet  your  approval  ? 
Waiter!  Get  my  friend  another  toby  and  get  me 
another  toby." 

James  was  beginning  to  be  nervous.     "  Come,  Fitz," 
said  he,  "  you  and  I  ought  to  be  going  now. " 

"  Why  so,  Bill  ?     What 's  the  rush  when  a  man  is 
116 


THE   TEMPLE   BAR 

happy  and  's  got  nothing  else  to  bother  him  ?  I  pro 
pose  to  stay,  and  if  you  don't  stay,  then  we  '11  have 
to  dig  up  the  hatchet  again.  I  say  stay  —  Stay,  boys, 
stay,  till  light  o'  day  —  Drive  care  away!  " 

The  improvised  rhyme  was  sung  discordantly  to 
an  improvised  air. 

For  an  hour  James  listened  to  his  companion's  ram- 
blings  and  countermanded  half-a-dozen  tobies.  Then 
he  succeeded  in  convincing  him  that  they  should 
have  a  look  at  the  stars.  On  the  street  Thorndyke 
began  to  sing,  "  For  all  my  days  I  '11  sing  the  praise  " 
—  dwelling  on  the  wrong  notes  and  beating  time. 
James  was  disgusted,  but  he  dragged  the  singer 
along. 

Presently  they  came  to  a  policeman,  who  was 
dangling  his  club  beneath  a  flickering  gas-jet. 

"  Hello,  fat  little  Boy  Blue  ! 
What  are  you  doin'  there  1 
Jf  I  had  n't  anything  else  to  do, 
I  'd  buy  you  a  rockin'-chair." 

"  If  you  don't  behave  yourself,  I  '11  learn  you  how ! " 
growled  the  man. 

"Shut  up,  Fitz,"  said  Billy;  "you'll  get  into 
trouble; "  and  he  tried  to  drag  him  away. 

"No,  I  'm  not  coming  just  now.  I  want  to  discuss 
with  this  gentleman." 

James  made  a  futile  attempt  to  grab  the  Colonel, 
who  slipped,  went  too  far,  and  bumped  into  the 
minion  of  the  law,  seating  him  forcibly  in  the  gutter 
while  his  club  bounded  and  glided  down  the  street. 
Both  regained  their  feet  in  an  instant.  The  man  was 

117 


BOYS   AND   MEN 

furiously  profane.  He  sprang  heavily,  and  would 
have  seized  the  offender  had  not  James  got  the  latter 
by  the  arm  and  hauled  him  along  at  a  miraculous 
rate.  The  policeman  was  close  upon  them,  but 
slipped  again  on  the  icy  walk  and  went  down, 
swearing  fearfully. 

"  Run,  Fitz,  run ! "  yelled  James ;  and  they  ran  till 
the  pursuer  was  far  behind.  By  a  roundabout  road 
they  reached  Thorndyke's  room  and  stopped,  panting 
and  dripping  with  sweat. 

"Now  go  to  bed,"  said  Billy,  "and  if  you've  got 
enough  sense,  say  your  prayers,  because  you  never 
needed  'em  more.  Your  eye  is  bunged  and  your 
clothes  are  a  sight  to  see." 

"Billy,"  he  answered,  "you're  my  friend,  and 
you  've  saved  me  from  disgrace.  I  was  a  fool.  Yes, 
I  am  a  fool,  and  a  fool  I  shall  remain.  Oh,  you  shall 
wear  a  golden,  golden  crown  of  glory,  Bill!  " 

"Go  to  bed,  I  tell  you." 

"I  want  you  to  kick  me  first." 

Instead  of  doing  that,  James  seized  a  pitcher  of 
cold  water  and  emptied  it  ruthlessly  upon  his  raving 
companion.  The  latter  gasped  and  sputtered :  "  That 's 
right,  Bill,  soak  it  to  me !  Oh,  what  'd  she  say  if 
she  saw  me  now!  No," he  went  on,  sitting  drenched 
as  he  was,  "  I  'm  no  good.  I  can  see  it  now.  You  're 
a  better  fellow.  But  I  'm  going  to  turn  over  a  new 
leaf  —  right  away  —  to-night."  He  began  to  rip  off 
his  spoiled  apparel,  and  James  looked  to  him  till  he 
was  well  in  bed. 

Somehow  this  affair  leaked  out,  and  each  man  — 
one  because  he  deserved  it,  the  other  because  he  was 

118 


THE   TEMPLE   BAR 

unwilling  to  explain  —  got  six  weeks  of  enforced 
leave ;  but  the  sinner  sinned  no  more.  Thus  a  pain 
ful  situation  absolutely  ceased  to  be  —  thanks  to  a 
small  amount  of  good  sense,  inherent  in  every  human 
being,  and  over-many  tobies.  But  the  end  was  not 
yet  —  for  James. 


119 


XV 

THE  FENCE 

IT  was  well-nigh  May  when  the  twain  came  back  to 
the  fold,  and  the  air  was  full  of  such  odours  as 
welling  saps  give  forth  when  they  begin  to  feed  the 
tender  leaves.  Hundreds  of  chattering  sparrows 
were  fighting  for  nests  against  the  vine-clad  walls  of 
the  Old  Library  and  the  Chapel,  and  as  the  evenings 
grew  balmier,  groups  of  singers  gathered  by  the  Fence, 
to  relieve  themselves  by  night  of  the  sentiment  which 
men  are  ashamed  to  show  by  day.  And  there  were 
negro  minstrels  with  voices  that  betrayed  their  colour 
even  in  the  dark,  and  there  were  the  minor  chords, 
which  are  the  charm  of  negro  glees  and  joy  of  the 
negro's  heart.  Also,  there  were  harps  and  horns  and 
fiddles  and  things,  which  were  applauded  with  the 
lavishness  of  uncritical  youth. 

Half  our  life  depends  on  other  people;  the  other 
half  on  the  weather  —  and  at  Yale  something  goes  for 
the  Fence.  For  have  we  not  sat  there  wasting  the 
golden  hours  in  the  amiable  exchange  of  our  accu 
mulated  ignorance  ?  Was  it  not  there  that  we  brooded 
and  hatched  the  plans  which  then  were  everything, 
and  which  now  we  have  forgotten  as  if  they  had  not 
been? 

Since  the  hour  when  he  had  last  seen  her,  Eldredge 
had  thought  often  of  Margaret,  but  he  would  not  have 

120 


THE  FENCE 

had  it  known  for  the  shame  that  is  in  poetry,  love, 
and  prayers ;  the  shame  that  bade  him  be  silent  till  he 
should  sometime  tell  her,  and  her  alone. 

Evidently  Margaret  was  fond  of  her  brother,  for 
every  Monday  the  postman  left  him  a  bulky  little 
envelope,  which  he  tucked  into  his  pocket  till  he 
could  read  it  after  the  first  morning  hour.  Once  or 
twice  she  sent  a  message  to  Jack,  which  was  trans 
lated  by  the  unsuspecting  Glenn  into :  "  Peggy  sends 
you  her  regardlete,"  or,  "Daisy  sends  you  her  bless 
ing,"  which  Eldredge  knew  to  be  garbled,  and  he 
wondered  if  Glenn  ever  forgot  entirely.  It  was  more 
than  probable. 

Tarbell,  whose  early  education  had  been  a  wofully 
harum-scarum  affair,  was  beginning  to  catch  up. 
More  than  that,  he  was  fast  climbing  to  the  top,  and 
bade  fair  to  be  in  good  time  a  member  of  the  Phi 
Beta  Kappa,  which  is  the  society  at  Yale  that  puts  a 
premium  only  on  brains.  Eldredge  realized  perfectly 
that  he  was  not  shaped  in  that  mould,  and  simply 
kept  himself  in  the  uppermost  third.  Both  men  spent 
much  time  on  a  certain  part  of  the  Fence,  listening  to 
the  notes  of  the  Campus  lark,  and  cementing  a  friend 
ship  that  was  not  to  die,  not  even  when  some  men 
would  have  hated  each  other  forever. 

Each  would  gladly  have  been  chosen  captain  of  the 
Eleven,  and  each  in  the  bottom  of  his  heart  hoped 
that  the  other  might  get  the  honour,  —  a  generosity  as 
rare  as  it  was  true. 

"Now,"  remarked  Tarbell  one  evening,  "I  figure 
it  out  this  way,  Jack.  I  '11  vote  for  you,  and  then 
don't  you  go  and  vote  for  me.  I  might  get  elected 

121 


BOYS   AND   MEN 

if  we  both  voted  for  me.  Besides  that,  pardner,  I  'm 
afraid  I  may  have  to  quit  for  a  year. " 

"What?  The  devil!  "  ejaculated  Eldredge,  jump 
ing  off  the  Fence.  "  You  're  joking !  " 

"I  wish  I  were,  Jack.  No,  I  fear  I  'm  bust.  The 
crime  of  '73  is  raising  the  very  Old  Nick  with  my 
money." 

Eldredge  looked  aghast  at  the  gloomy  grin  on  the 
other  man's  face.  The  humour  did  n't  touch  him. 

"But,  Tarb,  quit  your  fooling,  for  heaven's  sake!  " 

"Well,  I  get  my  grub  free,  and  the  College  is 
kindly  letting  me  borrow  some  of  its  money  for  tui 
tion  ;  but  there  are  other  things,  you  know.  In  some 
countries  I  might  do  without  clothes,  but  the  climate 
is  too  severe  in  these  parts.  The  interest  on  my  in 
vestments  has  gone  from  twelve  per  cent  to  just  nix. 
How  d'  ye  expect  me  to  live  on  that? " 

"  Borrow  of  me !  "  exclaimed  Eldredge.  "  How 
much  do  you  want?  A  thousand?  Five?  Say  the 
word,  Tarb,  and  you  can  have  all  you  want  if  I  have 
to  hock  my  last  pair  of  socks." 

"Put  it  there!"  said  Tarbell;  and  the  two  men 
clasped  hands  for  a  second.  It  was  one  of  those 
unspoken  acknowledgments  that  pass  between  man 
and  man. 

"This  is  a  business  arrangement,  Jack;  so  what 
are  the  rates  ?  My  mortgage  is  n't  worth  a  red. 
I  've  got  no  security." 

"The  deuce  you  haven't!  "  cried  Eldredge. 

"Which?"  asked  Tarbell. 

"Why,  yourself!"  Eldredge  picked  up  a  stick 
and  flung  it  against  a  tree.  Tarbell  would  have  an- 

122 


THE   FENCE 

swered,  but  something  got  into  his  throat  and  stopped 
the  words.  There  was  a  moment  of  silence. 

"With  business  in  such  shape  as  it  is  now,"  he 
went  on,  "I  don't  know  when  I  could  pay  up,  Jack." 

"  I  don't  care  when !  What 's  the  diff  ?  Tarb,  I  '11 
let  you  have  it  just  the  same  as  if  you  were  my  brother. 
D'ye  see?  My  brother!" 

"Yes,  I  do,"  said  Tarbell.     "It 's  a  bargain." 

Eldredge,  almost  without  knowing  it,  rested  his 
arm  on  the  other's  shoulder,  and  they  went  together 
down  the  long  walk  under  the  elms,  saying  never  a 
word. 


123 


XVI 

TORCH  AND  COWL 

T7VERYBODY  was  talking  about  it,  and  some 
-l—>  were  losing  sleep,  because  it  was  a  tremendous 
question,  —  these  elections.  The  funny  side  of  it  was 
that  some  of  the  puppets  pulled  their  own  strings, 
whereas  puppets  are  mostly  jiggled  about  by  some 
one  else ;  then  they  began  to  dance  for  joy  because 
they  had  been  able  to  give  themselves  this  small 
pleasure  without  much  worry  or  sweat. 

Naturally,  Tarbell  and  Eldredge  hadn't  the  least 
bother,  being  athletes  and  good  fellows.  And 
James,  who  was  moderately  clever,  managed  to  pull 
through;  nor  did  he  really  need  the  help  which 
Eldredge,  out  of  the  goodness  of  his  heart  and  a 
certain  confidence  in  himself,  had  expected  to  give. 

For  most  of  the  men  who  were  to  be  initiated  into 
the  junior  year  secret  societies  it  meant  exceedingly 
little.  It  was  one  of  those  useless  honours  which  a 
man  has  to  accept  if  he  would  not  suffer  harm. 
Therefore  that  kind  selected  a  society  after  their 
fancy,  and  recommended  to  friends  in  the  class  above 
a  certain  remnant  to  whom  it  would  mean  consider 
ably  more.  Empty  as  the  honour  seemed  to  those  who 
must  receive  it,  there  were  others,  two  hundred  and 
fifty  or  more,  who  could  not  share,  and  some  of  them 
felt  very  sore  and  sad.  To  not  a  few  it  was  as  if  they 

124 


TORCH   AND   COWL 

had  been  utterly  disregarded  or  deemed  unworthy; 
and  there  were  a  few,  a  very  few,  who  did  not  care. 

Once  there  was  a  society  called  Omega  Lambda 
Chi,  which  died  because  it  was  killed ;  but  every  year 
it  is  resurrected  for  two  hours  amid  din  and  dancing. 
Every  man  in  the  College  can  belong  to  this  society 
because  it  is  dead.  In  the  gloaming  of  an  evening  in 
May  they  gather  a  thousand  strong,  and  these  are  the 
words  they  sing,  — 

Chi  Hro  Omega  Lambda  Chi ! 
We  meet  tonight  to  celebrate 
The  Omega  Lambda  Chi ! 

It  is  a  regiment  —  seniors  at  the  head  —  arranged  in 
companies  according  to  class;  six  or  seven  men  in 
every  row.  With  arms  locked  behind  their  backs, 
shoulder  to  shoulder,  the  ranks  begin  to  move.  As 
they  advance,  they  sharpen  the  pace ;  each  row  sways 
from  side  to  side,  and  the  long  line  becomes  a  serpent 
with  the  freshmen  for  its  tail.  The  single  cry,  the 
mystic  verse,  rings  in  chorus  from  a  thousand  throats. 
Swiftly  the  writhing  line  moves  forward,  doing  a 
wild  dance  as  it  winds  beneath  the  elms.  Were  the 
figures  costumed  in  the  ancient  garb,  one  might  say 
it  was  some  orgy  of  the  Roman  sort.  But  there  is 
no  disorder,  —  nothing  but  enthusiasm,  and  that  of 
the  kind  that  makes  and  kills  itself. 

The  procession  moves  toward  a  certain  part  of  the 
Quadrangle,  and  for  a  moment  a  portion  of  the  line 
goes  more  slowly.  As  it  slackens  its  speed,  the  sing 
ing  stops  and  a  cheer  goes  up  —  Durfee !  South 
Middle!  Vanderbilt!  —  whatever  the  name  may  be; 

125 


BOYS  AND   MEN 

and  the  motion  is  resumed  till  each  building  has  been 
passed  in  review,  and  every  wall  has  echoed  its  own 
name.  The  Quadrangle  comes  to  have  almost  a  per 
sonality  ;  the  very  bricks  and  stone  seem  to  receive  a 
soul.  It  is  as  if  the  old  College,  with  all  its  places 
where  memories  have  been  and  friends  have  come 
and  gone,  were  receiving  a  noisy  homage  in  recogni 
tion  of  all  that  such  things  mean. 

The  next  evening,  which  is  ever  a  Tuesday,  there 
is  stillness  on  the  Quadrangle  until  nine  o'clock. 
Then  one  hears  the  sound  of  distant  singing  by  male 
voices,  and  the  air  is  like  a  dirge.  The  music  grows 
louder ;  there  is  a  glow  of  flickering  light  which  plays 
on  the  dark  walls  in  strange  figures.  Now  a  body  of 
men  clad  in  monastic  gowns  of  various  colours  and 
designs  follows  a  sputtering  calcium  light.  They 
march  down  a  walk,  singing,  and  another  band 
appears.  Each  company  is  chanting  a  different  air, 
and  all  go  solemnly,  as  if  bent  on  a  duty.  Were  it 
not  for  the  calcium  lights,  one  might  almost  fancy 
himself  to  be  looking  at  mediaeval,  monkish  orders 
engaged  in  the  performance  of  some  rite.  Each 
society  has  its  own  songs,  which  it  sings  without 
regard  to  the  rest.  One  is  splendidly  slap-dash,  and 
well  suited  to  the  rhythm  of  tramping  feet,  — 

For  oh !  we  are  so  jolly  oh  !  jolly  oh !  jolly  oh ! 
For  oh!  we  are  so  jolly  oh  !  in  jolly  D.  K.  E. 
Slap  Bang !    Here  we  are  again  for  jolly  D.  K.  E. 

and  the  music  almost  seems  to  explode  on  the  imita 
tive  words. 

In  the   windows  hundreds  of  eyes  are   following 
126 


TORCH   AND   COWL 

these  curious  proceedings.  Most  of  them  have  looked 
on  the  same  scene  before,  but  there  is  always  a  rem 
nant  of  mystery  to  charm. 

In  certain  rooms  "  candidates "  have  gathered, 
according  to  their  predilections  or  their  necessities, 
to  receive  an  election.  They  have  supplied  them 
selves  with  cigars  and  other  things,  which  the  in 
vaders  are  free  to  take  when  they  burst  into  a  room 
to  inform  its  occupants  of  their  election. 

Tarbell,  as  well  as  Eldredge  and  Glenn,  had 
selected  the  society  most  to  his  liking.  James  had 
been  disappointed  once;  therefore  he  felt  a  certain 
gratification  now.  Yet,  despite  the  Roman  candles 
and  the  singing,  it  was  an  idle  show,  interesting  in 
proportion  to  one's  ignorance  of  the  doings  inside. 
The  greatest  show  —  the  one  that  sends  some  scores 
of  men  into  an  ecstasy  of  joy,  and  brings  the  weaker 
ones  to  tears  —  was  yet  to  come.  What  intrigues, 
trickery,  and  cajolery,  and  arduously  infantile  diplo 
macy  were  therein  comprised  is  a  tale  yet  to  be  told. 


127 


XVII 

AT   TURN   OF  TIDE 

IN  the  midst  of  the  June  examinations  Eldredge  re 
ceived  a  letter  which  set  him  thinking.  His 
father  wished  to  know  whether  Tarbell  would  like 
to  work  for  him  during  the  summer.  Jack  was  not 
long  in  coming  to  a  conclusion,  so  far  as  his  crony 
was  concerned;  but  then  there  was  himself  to  con 
sider.  Mr.  Eldredge  spoke  of  a  paymastership,  for 
which  he  deemed  Tarbell  a  proper  man.  As  to  any 
place  for  his  son,  there  was  not  a  word. 

Letter  in  hand,  Jack  went  to  Tarbell' s  room  and 
laid  the  matter  before  him.  Tarbell  declared  that 
the  job  was  a  new  one  for  him,  but  that  he  would 
tackle  it  and  try  to  earn  his  salary.  Jack  was  for 
telegraphing  to  find  out  whether  there  were  a  place 
for  himself  as  well. 

"Hold  up,"  said  Tarbell,  "let 's  think  it  over." 

"  Why  should  I  think  it  over  ?  "  replied  Jack.  "  I 
can  earn  my  salt  as  well  as  the  next  one." 

He  walked  across  the  room  a  couple  of  times,  threw 
himself  into  a  chair,  and  re-read  the  letter. 

"Well,"  inquired  Tarbell,  "what's  your  conclu 
sion?" 

"My  conclusion?  Oh,  that 's  easy  enough !  Just 
wait  awhile  and  I  '11  tell  you.  Let  me  see.  What 

128 


AT   TURN   OF  TIDE 

are  my  accomplishments  ?  In  the  first  place,  I  can't 
keep  books.  There  's  one  difficulty  off  my  hands. 
And  I  don't  want  to  be  a  conductor  or  a  ticket  agent. 
And  not  being  a  darky,  I  can't  be  a  sleeping-car 
porter.  There  's  another.  Now  I  might  flag  off 
absent-minded  farmers  at  grade  crossings;  mightn't 
I  ?  Look  here,  Tarb,  what  do  you  think  I  could  do  ? 
You  ought  to  know." 

"I  ought  to,"  observed  Tarbell,  "but  I  don't. 
Perhaps  your  father  might  suggest  something,  — 
something  good  and  hard  like,  —  well,  trunks  and 
that  sort  of  thing." 

"Say,  Tarb,"  said  Jack,  "couldn't  you  get  me  a 
place  in  the  paymaster's  department?" 

"That 's  right,  pardner,  hit  back;  it 's  the  law  of 
life.  You  must  n't  mind  if  I  put  on  a  few  airs.  A 
man  in  my  position  "  (here  he  took  a  second  to  refill 
his  pipe),  "a  man  in  my  position  has  to  be  careful 
whom  he  puts  into  responsible  offices." 

After  some  fidgeting  about  the  room,  Jack  came  to 
anchor,  and  began  to  eye  Tarbell,  who  was  tranquilly 
blowing  rings  while  his  gaze  rested  on  his  companion 
curiously. 

"I  am  going  to  start  in  at  the  bottom,"  said 
Jack. 

"Where  's  that?"  asked  Tarbell. 

"Oh!  anywhere.  No  matter  about  that;  I  can 
work  up.  In  fact,"  he  continued  with  unwonted 
philosophy,  "  that  is  about  the  only  direction  in  which 
I  can  work.  Now,  what  I  'd  like  to  know  is  this: 
So  far  as  you  know,  is  there  any  job  that  I  could  do 
and  do  well,  barring  yours,  of  course?" 
9  129 


BOYS  AND   MEN 

"On  a  railroad?" 

"Certainly." 

"  Yes,  a  hundred.  All  you  '  ve  got  to  do  is  to  pitch 
in  the  same  as  here,  and  by  September  you  '11  have 
found  out,  or  my  name  's  not  Tarbell." 


130 


xvm 

AFFINITIES 

DURING  the  second  summer  of  their  friendship 
Eldredge  and  Tarbell  had  their  experience  in 
the  great  business  of  a  railway.  They  worked  tre 
mendously.  Tarbell  was  the  man  needed  for  his 
place.  He  never  botched  his  accounts,  never  was 
behind,  and  won  the  respect  of  several  hundred  sec 
tion  hands  by  treating  them  like  men.  Very  early  in 
his  railroading  career  he  found  it  necessary  to  knock 
down  a  certain  ruffian  who  had  mistaken  bulldozing 
for  persuasion.  It  was  a  common  report  along  his 
section  that  Tarbell  could  push  a  freight  car,  —  an 
absurdity,  no  doubt ;  but  he  was  fair  and  square  and 
friendly  in  a  man-to-man  way,  and  something  of  a 
king. 

Jack,  much  to  his  father's  gratification  but  quite 
without  suggestion,  donned  a  fireman's  garb  and 
stoked  for  engine  339.  His  action  had  a  certain 
dramatic  aspect  which  tickled  his  fellow-toilers.  Bill 
Atkins,  a  first-class  engineer  and  proprietor  of  339, 
would  have  it  that  there  was  n't  another  such  fireman 
on  the  line.  He  bossed  Jack  when  on  duty  and 
boasted  of  him  when  off.  "  That  boy,"  said  he,  "  is 
the  toughest  you  ever  see !  He  don't  put  on  lugs,  — 
though  I  '11  bet  ye  he 's  rich  enough  in  his  own  name 
to  own  the  hull  outfit." 

131 


BOYS  AND  MEN 

This  opinion  was  received  with  an  awful  admira 
tion.  But  there  was  nothing  so  very  strange  about 
it.  Jack  was  too  near  the  source,  too  much  his 
father's  son,  not  to  be  in  close  touch  with  the 
grimy,  workaday  world.  Moreover  he  had  learned 
in  the  two  years  of  college  life  how  to  deal  with 
other  men;  and  in  the  world  there  is  no  better 
wisdom. 

For  Jack,  his  summer's  job  was  no  affectation. 
He  had  too  much  common-sense  not  to  recognize  his 
limitations,  and  there  was  in  his  character  the  healthy 
kernel  of  democracy.  He  knew  his  strength,  and 
with  that  knowledge  there  existed  a  certain  security 
in  the  outcome  of  his  efforts.  And  there  was  some 
thing  greater  still,  urging  him  on  from  without  and 
from  within,  —  the  secretly  exuberant  assurance  that 
he  would  thus  be  undeniably  more  worthy  of  the  one 
whose  favour  he  prized  more  highly  than  that  of  all 
others.  He  never  saw  her,  and  he  had  ceased  to 
share  the  letters  of  Glenn;  but  he  thought  of  her 
daily,  hourly,  and  builded  for  himself  a  castle  of  the 
future  in  which  they  should  reign  together  and  he 
should  one  day  be  king.  He  feared  no  hindrance  to 
his  hopes ;  for  him  nothing  had  a  negative  side ;  his 
imagination  and  his  will  conspired  to  raise  for  him  a 
picture  which  was  almost  material  in  its  intensity. 
In  a  word,  he  was  continuously,  ineffably  happy  in 
a  golden  dream  that  vanquished  all  the  uncertainty 
of  this  earth. 

Meanwhile  James,  who  was  growing  more  sober 
under  the  burden  of  his  possibilities,  had  betaken 
himself  to  a  certain  camp  in  the  North  Woods  with 

132 


AFFINITIES 

some  congenial  companions,  a  few  harmless  firearms, 
and  numerous  virgin  quires,  which  he  was  expecting 
to  cover,  as  the  inspiration  came,  with  some  of  those 
fantastic  tales  which  have  since  that  time  been  lucky 
enough  to  sneak  into  various  prints  to  the  scandal  of 
a  philistine  world.  It  is  not  pertinent  here  to  tell 
how  his  greatness  finally  arrived,  nor  how  he  passed 
his  apprenticeship  by  writing  for  college  magazines 
matter  which  was  thus  doomed  to  an  eternity  unutter 
ably  obscure. 

There  were  twelve  in  the  party,  chaperones  com 
prised,  and  all  gifted.  Some  could  get  music  out  of 
a  banjo ;  others  had  voices,  and  all  "  wrote,"  —  even 
the  chaperones.  It  was  a  sort  of  Arcadia  where  the 
nymphs  and  swains  dabbled  in  sonnets  and  fed  them 
selves  on  ham  and  eggs.  Save  the  chaperones  and 
Joshua  Drake,  it  was  an  idle  company.  They  had 
drifted  thither  for  reasons  easy  to  explain,  so  far,  at 
least,  as  two  of  them  were  concerned.  It  was  a  con 
spiracy  in  which  the  conspirators  were  their  own 
victims. 

On  a  certain  fine  day  James  was  seated  on  the  end 
of  a  log.  That  particular  log  had  happened  to  fall 
about  a  hundred  yards  from  the  camp.  Not  only  was 
he  seated  on  the  said  log  —  a  fact  of  considerable 
gravity  in  itself  —  but  he  was  trying  hard  to  sew  a 
button  on  to  his  canvas  coat.  The  thread,  the  needle, 
the  button,  and  the  coat  were  resisting  to  the  utmost. 
At  the  other  end  of  the  log  sat  Miss  Merivale.  In 
one  hand  she  held  a  palette,  in  the  other  a  brush, 
with  the  end  of  which  she  was  endeavouring  to  get 
the  proportions  of  the  young  man's  physiognomy. 

133 


BOYS   AND   MEN 

"  Now,  don't  you  move,"  she  was  saying ;  "  because 
if  you  do,  I  shall  look  for  another  model." 

At  that  moment  the  needle  must  have  done  some 
thing  wicked,  for  the  would-be  seamstress  cried,  "  Jee 
Whittaker  !  Right  through  the  nail !  " 

"I  told  you  to  be  careful,"  exclaimed  the  artist. 
"  Do  you  want  another  fellow  to  help  you  ?  " 

"  No,  I  '11  make  a  few  more  stabs  at  it." 

She  laughed  as  she  deposited  a  daub  of  paint  upon 
the  canvas. 

"  Do  you  know,"  she  went  on,  "that  I  think  your 
nose  is  very  hard  to  do  ?  It 's  too  —  too  —  something 
or  other.  Oh !  I  see  now !  It 's  the  high  light  on 
the  tip." 

"  My  nose  is  all  right.  I  won't  have  it  abused," 
protested  Billy.  "What  are  you  going  to  call  it, 
Clare?  The  picture,  I  mean?  " 

"  Study  of  a  youth  sewing  on  a  button." 

"  Good !  I  rather  like  that.  May  I  come  and  see 
how  it  looks  ?  " 

"  Not  now,  Billy.  What  a  way  of  wearing  a  hat ! 
All  jammed  down  over  your  ears ! "  The  girl  left 
her  paints  and  proceeded  to  pose  the  hat,  sticking  into 
the  ribbon  a  few  quills.  Then  she  squinted  at  her 
model,  half  shutting  her  eyes  and  measuring  him  off 
into  sections,  by  aid  of  the  brush  handle. 

"  May  I  talk  a  little?  "  asked  James. 

"  Yes,  all  you  want  to ;  but  mind  you  say  nothing 
foolish ! " 

"  Well,  then,"  he  said,  without  a  twitch  of  the  eye 
lids,  "  do  you  believe  in  the  Elective  Affinities  ?  I  'd 
like  your  ideas  on  that  subject." 

134 


AFFINITIES 

"  No,  I  don't  so  awfully  much.    Are  they  catching?  " 

"  Very !     Besides  that,  they  're  incurable." 

"  Then  I  don't  believe  I  've  got  them."  A  silence 
ensued,  during  which  the  girl  plied  her  brushes  so 
skilfully  that  the  man  on  the  log  began  to  stand  out 
upon  the  canvas  just  as  he  was  in  life,  from  his  slouch 
hat  to  his  cowhide  boots,  with  a  touch  of  the  river, 
which  wandered  by  some  rods  away,  for  a  background. 
Finally,  the  artist  rose  and  scrutinized  both  picture 
and  model. 

"  There  !  "  she  said,  "  I  've  got  you  at  last,  nose 
and  all ! " 

"  You  Ve  always  had  me,"  ventured  James. 

"  That  is  a  very  pretty  compliment,  but  rather 
point-blank." 

"  I  did  n't  mean  it  for  a  compliment  —  it  was  truth 
—  I  hate  compliments.  May  I  look  around  now  ?  " 

"In  a  moment.  .  .  .  Now  you  can  come,"  she 
said ;  and  he  came  to  where  she  was  standing. 
"  How  does  it  suit  you  ?  " 

"  Well,  it 's  me.  Only  you  might  have  made  it  a 
little  handsomer." 

"  Oh !  it 's  quite  handsome  enough  as  it  is.  I  don't 
think  I  'd  like  you  if  you  were  different  from  what 
you  are.  Will  you  be  so  good  as  to  hold  my  paint 
box?" 

James  did  as  he  was  bidden.  When  Miss  Merivale 
had  laden  him  with  her  various  belongings,  they 
started  for  the  camp.  They  found  the  spot  deserted, 
except  for  a  red  squirrel  which  had  been  foraging,  and 
now  fled  in  affright.  James  laid  down  his  burden, 
and  said,  "Clare?" 

135 


BOYS   AND   MEN 

"  What  ?  "  she  responded. 

"  I  wanted  to  ask  you  if  you  'd  go  paddling  with 
me.  There  's  a  lovely  place  down  the  river,  a  big 
soft  mossy  rock,  and  I  '11  bring  a  book  so  that  you  can 
read  to  me.  You  will  read  and  I  '11  smoke  my  pipe 
and  wish  I  was  n't  anywhere  else." 

Each  took  a  paddle,  and  they  were  soon  drifting 
down  the  stream.  On  both  sides  were  dense  forests 
of  pine,  fragrant  with  balsam  and  the  countless  other 
perfumes  of  invisible  blooms.  As  the  canoe  came 
around  a  bend,  a  flock  of  ducks  suddenly  rose  and, 
forming  in  a  triangle,  flew  swiftly  before  them  and 
disappeared.  The  afternoon  sun  was  brightening  the 
tree-tops  with  its  slanted  light.  James  steered  his 
craft  out  of  the  current  and  deftly  urged  it  into  a 
little  cove. 

"  There 's  my  rock,  Clare,"  said  he. 

"Your  rock?" 

"Yes,  yours  and  mine.  Nice,  isn't  it?  Has  a 
green  velvet  cover  for  us  to  sit  on.  And  there  is  a 
fat  old  stump  for  you  to  lean  against,  just  as  if  it  had 
been  made  for  you."  As  he  spread  out  a  shawl  for 
the  girl  to  rest  on,  he  began  humming,  — 

"  Diaphenia,  like  the  daffadowndilly, 
White  as  the  sun,  fair  as  the  lily, 
Heigh  ho,  how  I  do  love  thee!  " 

The  girl  sat  with  her  shoulders  propped  by  the 
stump  and  her  head  pillowed  in  her  abundant  hair. 
In  her  lap  she  held  the  book  which  had  been  brought 
along  as  a  justification.  The  young  man  lay  upon 
his  side,  supporting  his  cheek  in  the  palm  of  his 

136 


AFFINITIES 

hand  while  his  elbow  rested  upon  the  rock.  She 
began  to  read  in  a  low  tone,  for  the  sound  was 
carried  far  on  the  still  air  of  river  and  forest.  The 
sun  had  sunken  a  little  deeper  below  the  tree-tops, 
and  an  evening  breeze  was  making  its  almost  imper 
ceptible  and  ever-varying  figures  on  the  water  of  the 
cove.  Still  she  read,  and  the  sound  of  her  voice,  the 
very  sense  of  the  words,  seemed  to  become  a  part  of 
the  fading  day.  Across  the  river  a  hedgehog  was 
creeping  slowly  out  to  the  end  of  an  overhanging 
branch.  As  he  proceeded  on  his  foolhardy  career, 
the  branch  bent  lower  and  lower  until  the  luckless 
animal,  in  spite  of  a  clumsy  attempt  to  turn  back, 
slid  and  fell  into  the  stream.  The  splash  of  his  fall 
startled  the  reader  and  her  hearer,  but  they  burst  out 
laughing  when  they  realized  what  had  happened. 
They  were  still  more  astonished,  however,  at  another 
matter  which  they  would  not  have  noticed  if  the 
hedgehog  had  not  given  his  ill-timed  warning.  The 
canoe  had  been  caught  broadside  by  the  breeze  and 
was  majestically  floating  down  the  stream.  The 
rope  with  which  it  had  been  fastened  still  dangled 
from  a  root  as  evidence  that  one  end  had  been 
properly  tied,  but  the  boat  was  certainly  at  liberty 
and  well  out  of  reach  from  the  bank. 

"Wait  for  me  there!"  cried  James.  "I'll  have 
her  back  in  a  minute  ! "  and  dashing  into  the  woods 
he  made  his  way  as  best  he  could  through  the  rough 
and  almost  impenetrable  growth  along  the  bank. 
She  heard  him  for  some  time  ;  then  the  sound  of  his 
plunging  ceased.  For  a  while  she  waited,  expecting 
every  moment  to  hear  his  returning  steps  or  see  the 

137 


BOYS   AND   MEN 

canoe.  It  was  almost  dusk  now,  and  the  woods  were 
beginning  to  utter  strange  sounds,  rustling  and 
creaking,  while  the  shadows  deepened  and  the  night 
came  down.  She  wondered  if  he  could  have  lost  his 
way  and  began  to  shout :  "  Oh,  Billy,  here !  here  I 
am ! "  No  answer  came.  Then  she  mustered  the 
courage  to  fold  her  hands  into  a  calliope,  but  the 
result  was  a  woful  failure  and  she  laughed  at  her 
effort.  The  girl  sat  perfectly  still,  waiting  for  her 
protector  and  fearful  lest  a  bear  or  some  other  of  the 
huge  creatures  which  are  fabled  to  inhabit  the  North 
Woods  should  come  upon  her.  Suddenly  she  caught 
a  crackling  of  the  thicket,  and  in  another  instant 
James  appeared. 

"  She  's  gone,  Clare !  Oh,  I  ought  to  have  seen 
that  the  thing  was  well  tied,  but  I  didn't;  so  here 
we  are,  high  and  dry,  and  three  miles  to  camp !  " 

"  I  don't  care,"  she  answered.  "  We  're  per 
fectly  safe,  are  n't  we  ?  You  can  easily  find  the 
trail." 

"  Of  course  I  can,"  said  James,  with  a  confidence 
which  existed  only  in  his  voice.  "  Keep  close  behind 
me,  and  we  '11  soon  be  there."  They  started  off  to 
gether,  stumbling  through  the  woods,  in  search  of  a 
trail.  Now  anybody  knows  that,  if  it  is  difficult  to 
find  a  trail  and  keep  to  it  in  the  dark  when  you  know 
where  it  runs,  it  is  far  more  difficult  to  find  your  way 
when  you  are  not  sure  even  that  a  trail  exists.  How 
ever  James  plunged  boldly  into  the  thicket,  and  soon 
discovered  what  he  believed  to  be  a  path.  They  fol 
lowed  it  in  silence  for  a  time,  while  the  lingering 
glow  of  daylight  helped  to  guide.  Then  the  forest 

138 


AFFINITIES 

became  so  dark  that  he  had  to  feel  the  way  with  his 
feet,  groping  from  tree  to  tree. 

"  Clare,"  he  said,  "  I  'm  sorry  to  have  got  you  into 
this.  It  would  be  tragic  to  die  here  in  the  forest  — 
even  together."  She  laughed,  but  kept  closely  be 
hind  him,  now  and  again  grasping  his  arm  to  keep 
from  falling. 

"  Are  you  tired,  Clare  ?  "  he  asked,  after  a  while. 

44  No,  not  yet,"  she  answered ;  and  they  stumbled  on, 
blindly  trusting  to  the  vagaries  of  that  Providence 
which  guides  persons  who  have  gone  astray.  After 
walking  what  seemed  to  him  an  interminable  distance, 
James  stopped,  and  expressed  his  opinion  that  it  would 
be  dangerous  —  as  it  was  evidently  useless  —  to  go 
farther. 

"  We  '11  camp  right  here  for  the  night,"  he  remarked, 
"  and  wait  for  daybreak."  Miss  Merivale  sat  upon 
a  log,  while  her  companion  gathered  sticks  to  build  a 
fire. 

44  Billy,  I  don't  know  what  I  should  have  done  if 
you  hadn't  been  along." 

"  You  would  n't  have  been  here  if  /  had  n't,"  he 
answered.  "  Are  you  comfortable,  Clare  ?  Is  n't  it 
very  tiresome  to  sit  on  that  log,  without  any  back  ?  " 

44  Yes,  I  think  it  would  be  if  I  had  to  sit  here  very 
long." 

44  If  you  don't  mind,  I  '11  come  and  sit  by  you.  And 
perhaps  it  would  be  well  if  I  wound  the  big  shawl 
around  you  to  keep  out  the  mist." 

"  My  shawl  is  so  big  that  I  really  don't  need  it  all. 
Considering  the  circumstances,  I  feel  sure  it  would  be 
right  to  give  you  half.  Don't  you  ?  " 

139 


BOYS  AND   MEN 

James  put  more  fuel  on  his  fire  and  seated  himself 
upon  the  log  close  enough  to  his  companion  to  share 
the  warmth  of  her  shawl.  They  sat  for  a  while, 
staring  into  the  fire,  which  sputtered  as  it  caught  the 
pitchy  parts  of  the  wood. 

u  Clare,"  said  Billy,  "  are  you  hungry  ?  " 

"  Not  so  very ;  but  it  would  be  nice  to  have  some 
supper.  I  wonder  what  they  are  having  at  the  camp 
this  evening.  Do  you  suppose  that  it 's  ham  and  eggs  ? 
I  do  like  ham  and  eggs.  We  must  be  miles  and  miles 
away,  and  probably  we  're  lost  in  some  different  part 
of  the  woods,  so  that  it  will  take  us  a  long  while  to 
find  our  way  back  to  camp.  But  don't  think  I  'm 
blaming  you,  Billy.  I  'd  rather  be  lost  with  you  than 
with  anybody  else.  Probably  they  're  all  very  ner 
vous,  and  think  that  we  've  been  drowned,  or  that 
something  else  has  happened." 

"  It  has,"  said  Billy,  audaciously.  "  Something  else 
has  happened,  and  the  best  thing  that  ever  happened 
to  anybody ! "  How  far  Billy  might  have  pursued 
the  inspiring  theme  will  never  be  known,  for  at  that 
instant  there  was  a  crash  in  the  bushes,  and  Joshua 
appeared  with  a  lantern. 

"  Hello !  "  he  shouted ;  "  what  do  you  think  you  're 
doing  here  ?  " 


140 


XIX 

CONFESSIONS 

T  TNQUESTIONABLY  the  third  year  in  the  career 

l—J  of  a  Yalensian  is  the  most  uncertain  yet  the 
fullest,  the  most  novel  year  of  his  college  life.  Bar 
ring  a  purely  superficial  appearance  of  childishness 
or  frivolity,  it  is  really  the  turning-point  in  his  his 
tory,  the  end  of  boyhood,  the  threshold  of  that  period 
when  a  man  begins  to  take  a  more  serious  view  of 
himself  and  to  link  his  life  to  that  of  the  world 
in  a  way  which,  unjustifiable  or  comic  as  it  may 
seem  to  the  deep  and  tried  philosophers,  is  sure 
nevertheless  to  enlarge  the  sphere  of  his  being  and 
therefore  to  invest  his  existence,  for  him  at  least, 
with  a  profound  and  lasting  significance.  Alma 
Mater,  having  previously  held  him  close  bound  in  the 
swaddling  clothes  of  certain  conventions,  having 
suckled  him  with  the  milk  whereon  she  has  bred 
numerous  generations,  proceeds  to  cast  him  off,  to 
wean  him  intellectually,  to  make  him  his  own  master 
in  the  things  of  the  mind,  as  she  has  long  ago  trusted 
him  to  control  the  comings  and  goings  of  his  body. 

On  an  evening  in  October  a  small  crowd  had 
gathered  in  a  room  of  Durfee.  Some  were  laughing, 
talking,  playing,  studying,  and  others  were  amusing 
themselves  with  the  gentle  art  of  doing  nothing. 

141 


BOYS  AND   MEN 

"  Listen ! "  said  one  of  them  who  was  sitting  on 
the  window-seat  with  a  book  upon  his  knees.  "  Can 
any  of  you  fellows  tell  me  the  meaning  of  this  ? " 
and  he  read  :  "  If,  then,  being  or  entity  postulates 
such  an  envisagement  of  the  cognitive  energies,  it 
is  clear  that  there  can  be  no  denial  of  this  peculiar 
assumption  which  in  itself  and  because  of  itself 
forces  the  mind  to  recognize  certain  facts  or  phe 
nomena  as  such  as  plainly  as  a  physical  occurrence, 
which  also  may  be  demonstrated  to  have  an  external 
though  not  independent  existence  —  " 

"  Dry  up,  Bill !  "  yelled  a  youth  who  was  playing 
cards.  "  You  disturb  our  game." 

"  Go  on,  Jamesey !  "  cried  another.  "  That  is 
what  we  desire.  You  're  filling  a  long-felt  want. 
I  'd  rather  listen  to  that  than  to  anything  else  in  the 
world."  And  sitting  down  at  a  piano,  the  fellow 
began  the  latest  song  from  some  New  York  concert 
hall.  Then  the  reader  closed  his  book  with  a  bang 
and  shied  it  at  a  wastebasket. 

"Joe,"  said  he,  "I'm  convinced  that  philosophy 
is  a  fake.  If  anybody  but  the  author  and  his  incom 
prehensible  Creator  knows  of  what  earthly  use  that 
subject  may  be,  let  him  stand  forth  and  deny  it  now!" 

"  William,  you  fail  to  comprehend  that  philosophy 
is  the  search  for  the  Ultimate  Reality,"  remarked 
Glenn.  "  When  you  have  once  grasped  that  prin 
ciple  firmly  in  both  fists,  you  will  be  another  man. 
All  your  present  misconceptions  of  life  will  vanish. 
Instead  of  being  so  material  you  will  vaporize,  so  to 
speak,  and  your  soul  will  become  ethereal  like  that 
of  a  bird." 

142 


CONFESSIONS 

"  Right  you  are  ! "  said  James.  "  But  I  don't 
want  to  be  ethereal.  I  prefer  to  leave  to  others  their 
profound  study  of  the  Whatness  of  the  Universal  It. 
If  I  go  to  heaven,  the  matter  will  undoubtedly  be 
explained  to  me  there,  and  if  I  don't  (as  I  fear  I  may 
not),  it  will  make  no  difference  anyhow." 

44  You  '11  probably  never  find  out  then,"  observed 
Eldredge,  who  was  gazing  ruminatively  out  upon 
the  darkness  of  the  Quadrangle. 

44 1  don't  care  if  I  don't,"  he  answered.  "  I  confess, 
Jack,  that  I'm  perfectly  content  with  this  world, 
though  it 's  rotten  enough,  as  you  've  often  heard  me 
state ! " 

"Since  when  have  you  become  so  well  pleased 
with  yourself,"  asked  Eldredge,  "  and  so  irreverent  ? 
You  're  the  most  irreverent  man  I  know.  Just  take 
warning  from  the  wise,  Billy  me  boy,  and  go  gently 
with  your  wild  opinions.  Some  day  when  you  are 
sitting  on  a  hot  gridiron,  you  '11  repent.  Then  don't 
forget  your  grandfather."  As  he  spoke,  Eldredge 
sprang  lightly  upon  the  window-seat  and,  bracing 
his  feet  against  those  of  James,  let  his  eyes  rove 
upon  the  various  men  within  the  room.  But  James 
gazed  at  Jack  with  an  expression  of  penetration 
mingled  with  a  certain  amount  of  miscomprehension. 
He  was  secretly  wondering  if  Eldredge  might  not  be 
in  reality  more  material  than  himself,  more  earthy, 
even  a  greater  believer,  if  an  unconscious  one,  in 
the  flesh-pots  and  other  crassly  enjoyable  things  of 
this  century. 

A  new  performer  at  the  piano,  having  bawled  out 
a  half-dozen  popular  airs,  now  began  something  of 

143 


BOYS  AND   MEN 

a  maudlin  sentimental  kind,  which  he  sang  with 
touching  fervour,  slurring  the  tones  for  melancholy 
effects  and  playing  peculiar  notes  of  his  own  in 
vention,  — 

"  Oh,  promise  me  that  so-me  day  ye-ou  and  I  —  " 

"  That 's  what  I  get  for  having  moved  on  the 
Campus  and  hired  a  piano ! "  growled  James,  good- 
naturedly.  "  I  ought  to  have  stayed  in  the  good  old 
place  by  the  lumber  yard,  but  Joshua  wanted  to  move 
to  the  Quadrangle,  and  I  could  not  say  him  nay." 

"  It 's  a  good  thing  for  you,"  replied  Eldredge. 
"  You  're  too  cranky  to  live  alone." 

"  Thanks,  Jack.  Evidently  you  want  me  to  grow 
up  in  the  proper  way  and  become  an  angel  of  the 
type  marked  '  Yale.' ': 

"  Sure, "  quoth  Eldredge.  "  That 's  easily  the  best 
kind." 

"  Say,  Jack,"  said  James,  putting  his  hand  to  his 
mouth  like  a  screen  and  whispering,  "  will  you  keep 
it  close  if  I  let  you  into  something  private  ?  " 

"  Of  course.     Did  you  ever  know  me  to  blab  ?  " 

Eldredge  descended  from  his  seat,  and  went  where 
he  could  put  his  head  near  his  friend's. 

"Jack,"  continued  Billy,  "it's  done.  Your  gra 
vest  suspicions  are  vindicated." 

"  I  'm  glad  of  it,"  exclaimed  Eldredge,  pressing  the 
other  man's  hand.  "  She  's  a  lovely  girl,  Billy,  and 
she's  got  one  of  the  best  fellows  that  ever  lived." 
He  smiled  in  a  warm  caressing  way,  and  his  face 
flushed  ever  so  slightly.  It  was  just  this  readiness 
to  share  the  lives  of  his  fellows,  a  sort  of  merging  of 

144 


CONFESSIONS 

his  personality  into  that  of  others,  and  the  capacity 
of  almost  absorbing  theirs  into  his  own,  which  made 
Jack  so  lovable  that  he  seemed  almost  to  bear  a 
charm.  At  such  moments  there  was  something  in 
his  smile,  in  the  sparkle  of  his  eyes,  and  the  tones  of 
his  voice,  which  clings  pleasantly  in  one's  memory. 

The  two  men,  so  utterly  and  innerly  different,  re 
mained  for  a  moment  without  speaking,  each  going 
over  his  own  thoughts,  and  each  unconscious  of  the 
incongruous  din  as  of  the  very  men  who  were  making 
it. 

"  Well,  Jack,"  observed  James,  at  that  point  of  his 
revery,  "  all  this  won't  make  any  difference  a  thou 
sand  years  hence  ;  but  just  at  present  I  've  narrowed 
the  world  down  to  me  and  mine,  and  the  rest  have 
ceased  to  exist.  Poor  Fitz  !  I  feel  guilty  whenever 
I  look  that  man  in  the  face.  Yet  he  's  a  second 
cousin  or  something  like  it ;  so  I  don't  believe  he  was 
eligible  anyway." 

4i  Oh,  he  was  eligible  !  "  replied  Eldredge  ;  "  only 
he  did  n't  get  the  one  vote  necessary  to  elect  him. 
But  you  've  got  a  long  while  to  wait,  Bill." 

"  What  do  you  take  me  for,  Jack,"  asked  Billy,  — 
"  a  theologue  ?  I  'm  no  chump  in  a  hurry.  Besides, 
you  know  the  laws.  How  do  they  run?  'Any 
student  who  contracts  marriage '  —  I  've  forgotten  the 
rest !  But  it  would  make  no  difference,  anyway." 

Just  at  this  instant  the  pianist  fired  a  heavy  volley 
on  his  larger  guns,  and  James  took  advantage  of  the 
roar  to  say  something  to  Eldredge,  which  caused  the 
latter  to  exclaim  hilariously,  "  Of  course  you  are ! 
and  if  I  had  the  chance  I  'd  be  so  myself." 
10  145 


BOYS   AND   MEN 

"Oh,  you  will,  Jack.  I'm  no  prophet,  but  I'm 
not  blind  in  both  eyes,  either." 

"  Perhaps  I  shall,"  Eldredge  answered  vaguely. 
"  Well,  Billy,"  he  added  earnestly,  and  resting  his 
hand  on  his  friend's  shoulder,  "  I  'm  very  glad  for 
your  sake ;  you  've  my  heart's  best  wishes." 

The  man  at  the  piano  ceased  his  pugilistic  efforts 
for  an  instant. 

"  Pray,  don't  stop  playing  on  our  account ! "  re 
marked  Tarbell  dryly,  in  his  deep  bass,  "  and  don't 
feel  hurt ;  I  was  going  anyhow ! "  and  he  passed 
down  the  stairs,  which  were  so  narrow  that  his  great 
body  blocked  them  almost  completely.  Glenn  and 
Eldredge  came  after  him.  All  three  stopped  for  a 
moment  at  the  Fence.  Then  Eldredge  and  his  chum 
went  together  to  the  rooms  which  they  were  now 
inhabiting  for  the  third  year  of  their  college  life. 
While  many  of  their  classmates  had  moved  into  more 
showy  quarters,  they  had  kept  the  old  abode,  partly 
because  Glenn  objected  to  moving  his  innumerable 
traps,  partly  also  because  Eldredge  had  what  he  con 
sidered  better  ways  of  spending  his  extra  money. 
But  that  was  his  own  business ;  and  if  Jack  now  and 
then  sent  some  less  fortunate  classmate  the  where 
withal  to  make  the  struggle  easier,  the  latter  never 
knew  whence  it  came,  and  Eldredge  was  not  the  man 
to  tell  him. 


146 


XX 

JACK'S  LIMITATIONS 

r~TNHAT  evening  Eldredge  set  himself  to  the  awful 
JL  task  of  writing  a  letter  inviting  Miss  Margaret 
Glenn  to  attend  the  great  game  between  Yale  and 
Harvard.  One  sheet  after  another  was  torn  into 
small  scraps  and  flung  into  the  wastebasket.  Had  he 
only  been  willing  to  give  James  a  few  hints,  that  man 
could  have  done  him  one  in  any  style  for  any  effect ; 
but  Jack's  literary  talent  was  so  deficient  that  not 
even  the  vantage  of  his  subject  could  inspire  him  with 
anything  remarkable.  So  what  he  finally  said  was 
jerky  enough  ;  but  he  went  out  at  one  o'clock  in  the 
morning  and  consigned  it  for  good  or  evil  to  the  mail. 
In  three  or  four  days  he  received  an  answer. 

DEAR  MR.  ELDREDGE,  —  I  am  very  glad  you  wrote  so 
early,  because  another  invitation  came  a  day  after  your 
own  which  I  might  have  accepted.  I  am  ever  so  anxious 
to  see  the  game.  Only  it  is  too  bad  you  can't  play  and 
be  a  spectator  at  the  same  time. 

A  friend  of  mine  who  is  quite  young,  but  married,  is 
going  to  chaperone  me,  and  Joe  will  help  her.  You  were 
very  nice  to  urge  me  to  stay  "  as  long  as  possible," 
but  four  days  will  be  all.  However,  I  shall  see  you  often, 
I  hope,  and  you  will  tell  me  about  the  game,  and  show 
me  lots  of  interesting  places.  You  were  very  good  to 

147 


BOYS  AND   MEN 

think  of  me  so  early,  and  you  may  be  sure  it  will  be  a 
great  pleasure  to  come. 

Very  sincerely, 

MARGARET  GLENN. 

Into  this  note,  the  purport  of  which  was  simple 
enough,  Jack  read  some  of  his  own  thoughts  and  read 
them  out  again.  Also  he  put  it  away  and  began  to 
hunt  for  a  decent  method  of  getting  another. 

Meanwhile  there  was  an  important  election  on  hand, 
to  choose  a  committee  for  the  Promenade.  It  came 
very  early  in  the  year,  and  there  was  a  deal  of  can 
vassing,  and  men  who  deemed  their  chances  good 
went  about  with  other  men  who  had  no  chances 
at  all.  Those  who  belonged  to  secret  societies  of 
the  exclusive  kind  had  quickly  settled  on  their 
candidates,  and  were  now  devising  ways  of  getting 
the  larger  herd  —  "  hoi  canaille"  as  James  ironically 
expressed  it  —  to  cast  their  votes  without  inquiry. 

On  election  night  there  was  such  a  throng  in  a 
room  of  one  of  the  old  buildings  that  men  were 
perched  upon  the  very  window-sills.  In  a  few  min 
utes  the  place  was  hazy  with  tobacco  smoke.  There 
was  a  continuous  hum  of  conversation,  broken  by  the 
louder  report  of  some  opportune  sally.  And  the 
whole  body  sang  everything  that  entered  its  head. 
Somebody  exploded  a  cracker  outside  the  door, 
whereupon  there  was  a  cry  of,  "  Anarchists !  "  and 
"  Put  him  out !  "  An  invisible  jester  yelled,  "  Bud- 
son  has  been  assassinated.  Extry,  extry !  " 

Whereat  Budson  arose  and  shouted,  "  Gentlemen, 
this  report  is  absolutely  false ;  I  wish  to  deny  it  in 

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JACK'S  LIMITATIONS 

person ! "  Thereupon  a  crowd,  under  the  lead  of  an 
instantaneously  and  spontaneously  improvised  con 
ductor,  began  singing,  — 

"  Here 's  to  good  old  Budson,  drink  him  down,  drink  him  down. 
Here 's  to  good  old  Budson,  drink  him  down,  drink  him  down. 
Here 's  to  good  old  Budson,  for  he 's  got  his  Sunday  duds  on, 
Drink  him  down,  drink  him  down,  drink  him  down,  down, 
down ! " 

Presently  the  chairman  took  his  place,  and  the 
struggle  began.  Tarbell  and  Eldredge  were  both 
nominated,  as  if  their  names  had  occurred  at  once 
and  without  suggestion  to  most  of  the  assembly. 
That  was  not  according  to  the  prearranged  plan.  The 
society  to  which  the  two  men  belonged  knew  they 
would  both  be  acceptable  to  the  remainder  of  the 
class,  but  there  was  another  who  needed  the  distinc 
tion  badly ;  it  would  help  him  at  the  senior  tapping 
in  May. 

"I  nominate  Mr.  W.  D.  Perry,"  cried  an  obscure 
voice. 

"  I  second  that  motion,"  cried  another.  Perry  was 
simply  a  good  fellow,  who  did  not  belong  to  the  best 
society  of  any  large  city,  and  was  also  not  a  member 
of  any  society  at  Yale.  He  was  therefore  likely  to 
have  a  goodly  number  of  supporters. 

Another  motion  was  in  order.  "  Mr.  Chairman," 
said  a  man  of  questionable  social  state,  "  Mr.  Chair 
man,  I  'd  like  to  nominate  Mr.  Desmond."  The  mo 
tion  was  seconded  by  some  ready  satellite.  Jack 
Eldredge  arose  and  passed  quietly  amongst  the  voters, 
who  would  go  as  their  whims  led  them  unless  they 
were  led  elsewhere.  He  knew  the  situation  perfectly. 

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BOYS   AND   MEN" 

One  of  the  things  he  knew  was  that  several  men  were 
likely  to  drop  a  couple  of  extra  ballots  into  the  hat 
out  of  loyalty  to  their  good  friend  Desmond.  In  a 
tactful  way  he  asked  a  score  of  men  to  refrain  from 
voting  for  himself  and  cast  their  ballots  for  Perry. 
The  full  number  of  nominations  had  been  made,  and 
the  voting  began.  Hats  were  passed  for  the  ballots, 
and  then  the  nine  nominees  who  had  got  the  largest 
number  were  chalked  upon  a  board  with  the  number 
of  the  votes  which  each  had  received.  Tarbell  was 
pretty  well  toward  the  top,  Eldredge  fifth  or  sixth, 
and  Perry  next  below  him.  Desmond  had  three  or 
four  votes  less  than  the  last  man  on  the  list  of  those 
who  were  to  manage  the  Promenade.  From  where 
Jack  sat,  he  could  discern  a  rather  ugly  expression 
upon  Desmond's  face,  —  an  expression  not  unlike  the 
one  which  had  come  over  it  the  day  they  had  had 
their  encounter  at  the  examination.  Their  eyes  met, 
and  Eldredge  caught  in  the  other  man's  countenance 
a  sinister  look  of  hate.  The  crowd  pressed  rudely 
out  of  the  room.  In  the  crush  the  two  men  were 
pushed  against  each  other. 

"I  congratulate  you  upon  your  election,"  said  Des 
mond,  with  a  pallid  grin. 

"  Thank  you,"  replied  Eldredge ;  "  but  I  'd  have 
been  awfully  sorry  to  see  Perry  miss  it." 

He  had  hardly  spoken  the  words  when  he  would  have 
given  much  never  to  have  uttered  them.  Without 
going  very  deeply  into  the  matter,  he  felt  that  he  had 
belittled  himself,  and  he  went  to  his  room  with  the 
uncomfortable  feeling  of  having  deteriorated.  Then 
he  fell  to  reasoning  over  the  matter,  and  after  a  while 

150 


JACK'S   LIMITATIONS 

came  to  a  conclusion  which  eased  his  conscience. 
After  all,  he  had  only  done  the  right  thing  by  one 
man,  and,  as  for  the  other,  he  had  prevented  him  in 
a  perfectly  justifiable  way  from  receiving  an  honour 
which  he  did  not  deserve.  Yet  there  still  lurked  in 
his  heart  the  thought  that  there  might  be  within 
himself  something  different  from  what  he  would  like 
to  find.  As  he  sat  musing  over  himself  in  the  dark 
ness  of  his  room  (for  in  his  preoccupation  he  had 
not  even  thought  of  striking  a  light),  his  thoughts 
drifted  away  from  a  disagreeable  examination  of  his 
own  foibles,  and  he  found  himself  talking  to  a  beauti 
ful  girl  who  kept  fading  and  reappearing.  He  drew 
his  hand  over  his  eyes,  yawned,  and  lit  the  gas. 
Then  he  happened  to  see  a  letter  lying  open  upon  the 
table.  It  was  written  in  a  large  fair  hand,  and  even 
from  a  distance  he  could  see  it  was  from  Margaret 
Glenn.  Involuntarily  he  stepped  a  little  nearer,  and 
caught  sight  of  the  word  "  Eldredge."  An  irresisti 
ble  temptation  seized  him  to  take  the  letter  in  his 
hand.  Hardly  conscious  of  his  own  action,  he  picked 
it  up  and  read :  "  Mr.  Eldredge  has  been  so  good  as 
to  invite  me  to  the  football  game."  He  read  no  more 
than  those  simple  words,  for  there  flashed  upon  him 
the  realization  that  he  had  done  something  unworthy. 
He  dropped  the  letter  upon  the  table  so  that  it  might 
lie  exactly  as  before,  and  as  he  walked  slowly  into 
his  chamber,  there  came  upon  him  again  a  sensa 
tion  that  was  creepy  and  persistent,  and  for  the  first 
time  in  his  life  it  occurred  to  John  Eldredge  that 
there  was  within  him  another  personality  which  had 
grown  upon  him  without  his  knowledge,  and  which 

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BOYS   AND   MEN 

threatened,  unless  he  strove  stoutly  against  it,  to  make 
him  unhappy. 

Jack  sat  for  a  long  while  a  prey  to  the  strange 
thoughts  which  held  him  as  in  fascination.  Then 
Glenn  came  home,  and,  as  he  entered,  cried  out: 
"Hello,  Jack!  Are  you  still  up?  I  got  a  letter 
from  Peggy  to-day.  She  says  you  've  invited  her  to 
see  the  game." 

"  Yes,  I  have,"  Jack  answered. 

"  I  'm  glad  you  did,"  said  Glenn.  "  Peggy  's  a  nice 
girl ;  and  if  you  had  n't  invited  her,  I  'd  have  done 
it  myself.  Say,  Jack,  she  said  something  else  too." 

"What  was  it?"  asked  Eldredge,  anxiously. 

"  Oh,  she  just  remarked  that  you  spell  always  with 
two  Ts.  Well,  good-night,  Jack." 

"  Good-night,"  answered  Eldredge ;  and  the  poor 
boy  went  to  bed  thinking  himself  a  deal  worse  than 
he  was,  and  (worst  of  all !)  that  he  had  made  a  fool 
of  himself  to  the  one  person  before  whom  he  would 
have  wished  to  appear  in  all  possible  perfection. 


152 


XXI 

A  TEST 

ELDREDGE  found,  on  awaking  the  next  morn 
ing,  that  he  had  wellnigh  slept  off  his  squearn- 
ishness.  A  perfectly  healthy  man  suffers  less  from 
the  pricks  of  conscience  than  one  who  is  sickly, 
and  Jack's  abundant  energy  had  restored  him  to 
that  woful  condition  of  indifference  to  his  shortcom 
ings  of  which  men  of  his  sort  are  sometimes  guilty. 

Coming  out  of  Chapel,  he  was  waylaid  by  three  or 
four  small  Jews  with  the  morning  papers.  One  of 
the  urchins  held  open  before  him  a  voluminous  met 
ropolitan  daily  containing  an  abominable  woodcut, 
beneath  which  he  read:  "Eldredge,  the  great  half 
back,  discusses  Yale's  chances  of  victory  — "  He 
bought  the  paper  with  a  couple  of  others.  As  he 
walked  to  classroom,  he  read  the  whole  article.  It 
was  a  mass  of  lies  from  beginning  to  end,  but  the 
interview  was  signed  with  a  caricature  of  his  own 
name,  a  forgery  of  course.  Of  a  sudden  some  one 
clapped  him  on  the  back,  and  looking  around  he  saw 
Tarbell.  The  latter  had  got  the  same  journal,  and 
his  face  wore  a  look  somewhere  between  laughter 
and  consternation. 

"  Are  you  the  author  of  that  ?  "  he  asked. 

"  I  should  say  not !  "  responded  Eldredge.  "  But 
there  is  a  liar  in  camp  somewhere." 

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BOYS   AND   MEN 

"Yes,"  remarked  Tarbell,  "I  should  judge  that 
somebody  is  rotten  in  the  State  of  Denmark."  Jack 
tore  the  article  from  its  vulgar  surroundings  and 
tucked  it  into  his  pocket.  As  he  entered  his  morn 
ing  lecture,  he  opened  another,  —  a  local  paper.  His 
eye  caught  this  heading :  "  Election  of  the  Prome 
nade  Committee  —  A  Sensational  Occurrence." 

Eldredge  took  his  accustomed  place.  The  lecturer 
was  a  brilliant  man,  and  put  everything  so  forcibly 
that  the  dullest  were  following  him  with  interest. 
Jack  began  to  jot  down  the  striking  points  into  his 
notebook,  but  presently  he  awoke  to  find  that  he  no 
longer  understood  a  word  of  what  he  was  writing. 
He  shook  himself  a  bit  and  fell  to  writing  again ;  but 
once  more  his  mind  drifted,  quite  without  any  will  of 
his,  into  another  field.  Involuntarily,  unconsciously, 
he  had  taken  the  second  paper  from  his  pocket  and 
was  reading  about  the  election  of  the  previous  even 
ing.  Directly  under  the  heading  he  saw  the  words : 
"  Prominent  man  gets  a  setback."  His  eye  passed 
swiftly  down  the  column  till  it  stopped  at  the  follow 
ing  sentence  :  "  The  class  is  rejoicing  over  the  large 
vote  cast  for  John  Eldredge.  Eldredge  is  considered 
the  handsomest  man  in  '95,  and  is  popular  not  only 
among  society  men,  but  also  among  those  who  belong 
to  no  society.  In  a  word,  he  is  an  ideal  man  for  the 
place." 

Having  perused  this  bit  of  journalism,  Jack  read  a 
little  further :  "  It  is  thought  that  a  certain  well- 
known  member  of  the  class  missed  election  because 
a  large  number  of  votes  were  turned  over  to  an 
obscure  opponent  who  is  a  non-society  man.  This  is 

154 


A  TEST 

all  the  more  extraordinary  —  "  But  Jack  got  no  fur 
ther  ;  for  suddenly  he  felt  that  somebody  was  address 
ing  him,  —  "I  shall  have  to  request  the  gentleman 
who  is  reading  to  put  his  paper  away  immediately." 

Eldredge  felt  the  blood  mount  to  his  face,  but  in  a 
second  he  had  closed  his  notebook  upon  the  paper, 
and  with  a  furtive  glance  he  saw  that  only  two  per 
sons  had  observed  him,  one  of  whom  was  Drake. 
The  rest  of  the  class  had  interrupted  their  work  for 
an  instant,  and  were  once  more  writing  as  if  nothing 
extraordinary  had  happened.  Jack  felt  a  deep  humil 
iation  well  up  within  him,  and  he  waited  restlessly 
for  the  hour  to  end.  When  all  the  class  had  gone, 
he  went  to  the  professor  and  said  very  bluntly, 
"  I  'm  very  sorry,  sir ;  I  was  rude  and  thoughtless." 
He  blushed  violently  and,  being  an  emotional  fellow, 
could  scarcely  restrain  the  tears. 

44  Oh,  you  must  n't  take  it  so  much  to  heart,"  said 
the  professor,  seeing  in  Jack's  face  how  much  the 
rebuke  had  cost  him.  "It  was  only  an  inadver 
tence."  He  smiled  in  a  warm  way,  and  asked 
Eldredge  what  the  outlook  was  for  a  victor}*.  Then 
Jack  went  his  way,  feeling  miserable  enough;  but 
gradually  the  humiliation  wore  away,  and  his  rough 
exertion  upon  the  football  field  blunted  any  tendency 
which  he  might  otherwise  have  had  to  go  prying  into 
his  own  conscience.  And  as  the  days  went  by,  he 
grew  in  favour  and  was  aflame  with  exuberant  animal 
life.  The  very  men  who  were  most  used  to  him 
seemed  to  be  under  a  spell  when  in  his  presence,  and 
those  who  basked  in  his  friendship  or  who  enjoyed 
the  merest  acquaintance  flocked  about  him  and 

155 


BOYS  AND   MEN 

idolized  him  until  he  came  to  believe  that  he  pos 
sessed  a  sort  of  magic  influence,  and  there  grew  upon 
him  a  feeling  of  vain  contentment  with  himself  and 
all  the  world.  His  friends,  even  the  keen,  whole- 
souled  Tarbell,  failed  to  notice  the  change  that  was 
coming  over  him;  and  they  warmed  themselves  in 
the  sunlight  of  his  presence,  enjoying  the  outward 
manifestation  of  the  cause  which  was  surely  leading 
him  to  misfortune. 


156 


XXII 

ON  THE  VERGE 

ON  an  evening  three  or  four  days  before  Thanks 
giving,  Eldredge  called  at  a  house  which  stood 
and  still  stands  not  far  from  the  Quadrangle,  and  was 
ushered  ceremoniously  into  the  presence  of  a  fashion 
able  lady,  who  seemed  to  him  rather  artificial  and 
flighty,  of  her  oldish  and  somewhat  inferior  husband, 
and  of  Miss  Margaret  Glenn,  who  seemed  nothing 
at  all,  but  was  actually  so  superbly  beautiful  that 
Eldredge  had  some  difficulty  in  concealing  his  emo 
tions  and  in  showing  himself  equally  aware  of  his 
fashionable  hostess  and  of  the  oldish  gentleman. 

The  oldish  gentleman  had  once  been  a  member  of 
the  University  football  team,  and  was  n't  reluctant  to 
tell  what  magnificent  material  the  University  used  to 
get  "in  his  day."  Moreover,  he  had  devised  some 
tricks  which,  he  was  persuaded,  would  revolutionize 
the  game.  The  next  time  Eldredge  called  he  should 
see  them  for  himself. 

"  I  am  sure  that  would  be  very  interesting,"  said 
Jack;  "but  I'm  neither  a  coach  nor  captain  —  and 
I  don't  believe  it  would  be  safe  to  introduce  any 
innovations  now." 

"  My  husband  is  perfectly  absorbed  in  the  game," 
said  the  hostess;  "but  purely  from  a  theoretical 

157 


BOYS  AND   MEN 

standpoint,  Mr.  Eldredge.  It's  ever  so  long  since 
you  've  really  played,  Harry,"  she  observed  slyly,  to 
suggest  the  difference  in  age.  "You  understand, 
Mr.  Eldredge,  that  Mr.  Fortescue  will  talk  of  nothing 
but  football  at  this  season." 

"  How  delightful !  "  exclaimed  Margaret.  "  Really, 
Caroline,  I  envy  you  the  opportunity  of  being  coached 
by  an  expert ! " 

"The  way  to  manage  that,"  said  Mr.  Fortescue, 
with  stupid  complacency,  "is  to  marry  a  man  who 
knows  the  game."  At  this  Miss  Glenn  blushed  very 
slightly,  but  Jack,  who  had  little  control  over  such 
matters,  turned  scarlet  and  blurted  out  that  he  thought 
such  a  reason  should  be  the  last  one. 

Our  hostess  (who  had  not  lost  her  composure  for 
an  instant)  deftly  turned  the  conversation  into  another 
channel,  and  after  a  few  minutes  of  unintelligent 
attention,  her  husband,  observing  that  he  had  an  en 
gagement,  rose  and  departed. 

If  the  lady  hadn't  been  ready  to  prattle  upon 
almost  anything  that  passed  through  her  head,  Jack 
would  have  been  sadly  embarrassed,  since,  for  the  life 
of  him,  he  could  think  of  nothing  that  might  interest 
both  his  entertainers.  The  almost  monkish  life  a 
university  man  is  forced  to  lead  gets  him  quite  out  of 
the  habit  of  talking  with  women.  But  the  lady  never 
searched  for  a  thought  nor  wanted  a  word  to  express 
it.  She  talked  on  glibly,  till  the  clumsy  speech  of 
her  husband  had  quite  vanished  from  Jack's  mind 
and  he  found  himself  chatting  merrily,  while  he  sat 
in  a  deep  chair  listening  with  one  ear  to  his  hostess, 
and  with  the  other  and  all  his  soul  to  the  enchantress 

158 


ON  THE   VERGE 

who  knew  how  to  win  him,  body  and  soul,  without 
much  more  than  a  nod  or  a  smile. 

It  makes  small  difference  what  is  said,  for  there  is 
something  deeper,  subtler  than  words,  something 
which  no  one  comprehends,  which  bears  secretly  a 
message  that  thrills  and  enthralls. 

That  is  why  Margaret,  merely  by  talking  of  old 
china  and  queer  people,  and  of  how  she  had  danced 
with  Eldredge  the  year  before  and  was  hoping  it 
might  happen  again,  drew  him  into  her  spell. 

In  a  moment,  when  for  some  errand  or  other  his 
hostess  was  called  away,  Jack  felt  strange  words 
rising  to  his  lips,  but  he  stopped  them  in  time  and 
merely  said,  "  I  have  been  waiting  for  a  month  —  six 
weeks  —  to  see  you,  and  now  you  have  come." 

"  Yes,  I  have,"  she  answered  very  simply,  smiling 
at  him,  while  over  her  lips  and  eyes  there  passed  a 
stealthy  twinkle  which  would  have  meant  to  Jack, 
had  he  been  a  shade  wiser,  that  she  was  laughing  in 
wardly  at  his  simplicity. 

"  You  know  I  can  stay  only  three  days,"  Margaret 
continued,  "  so  you  may  come  oftener  than  if  I  were 
a  college  widow  and  lived  here  forever." 

"  I  could  come  to-morrow  evening,"  Jack  ventured. 

"  And  bring  my  brother?"  she  asked. 

"Wouldn't  he  come  without  bringing?"  said 
Eldredge,  with  a  little  amazement. 

"  Of  course,"  she  answered  proudly,  "  Joe  will  do 
anything  that  I  ask  of  him ;  but  he  might  call  in  the 
afternoon  —  and,  besides,  I  want  you  to  come  together. 
Joe,"  she  said,  twisting  a  corner  of  her  handkerchief 
about  her  finger,  "  Joe  will  talk  to  Mrs.  Fortescue." 

159 


BOYS   AND   MEN 

The  large  portieres  were  thrust  aside,  and  that  lady 
returned. 

"Oh!"  she  exclaimed,  with  a  pretty,  despairing 
wave  of  her  small  hand,  "I'm  the  servant  of  my 
servants.  You  must  pardon  me  for  neglecting  you. 
I  've  been  telling  my  butler,  Mr.  Eldredge,  that  you 
would  dine  with  us  to-morrow  night." 

"  But  I  can't,"  said  Jack.  "  It 's  too  bad !  They  'd 
never  allow  it,  though." 

"  And  may  I  inquire  who  '  they '  are  ?  "  demanded 
the  young  woman,  "and  what  right  they  have  to 
spoil  my  dinner  ?  " 

"It's  the  training  table,"  replied  Jack.  "You 
know  they  give  us  beefsteak  and  ale  and  that  sort 
of  thing." 

"  But  don't  you  suppose,"  exclaimed  Mrs.  Fortescue, 
before  he  could  finish,  "that  I  could  do  as  well  as 
that?" 

At  this  Margaret  burst  out  laughing.  "  Why, 
Caroline,"  she  said,  "have  you  never  heard  about 
that  ?  They  have  to  meet  exactly  at  a  certain  hour, 
and  be  fed  pounds  and  pounds  of  meat  just  like  — 
lions  in  a  menagerie." 

"  I  am  very  sorry  I  can't  come  to  your  dinner,"  said 
Eldredge,  "but  I  shall  try  to  call  on  you  during 
the  evening." 

"  And  we  shall  be  much  pleased  to  have  you,"  said 
his  hostess,  sweetly.  "  You  will  tell  me  about  real 
football,  won't  you  ?  " 

"  It  would  n't  be  interesting  to  hear  me  describe 
the  game,"  observed  Jack,  modestly. 

"  But  my  brother  describes  it  beautifully,"  put  in 
160 


ON  THE   VERGE 

Margaret.  "  He  analyzes  it  and  tells  me  all  about 
wasted  energy,  with  lots  of  deep  explanations  as  to 
the  power  to  resist  shocks,  and  all  that  sort  of  thing." 

"  Then  he  must  come,  too ! "  exclaimed  Mrs. 
Fortescue. 

"I  think  I  might  bring  him,"  Eldredge  replied,  "if 
he  is  n't  engaged  already." 

"  If  he  is,  I  shall  tell  him  to  break  his  engagement," 
asserted  Margaret.  "Joe  is  my  brother.  But  he 
would  come  anyway,"  she  added,  with  no  coquetry, 
though  she  looked  so  imperial  that  pretty  Mrs. 
Fortescue  seemed  almost  to  shrink  beside  her. 

With  that  Jack  made  the  ladies  a  courteous  bow, 
and  took  his  leave.  They  watched  his  splendid  figure 
as  he  disappeared  into  the  hall ;  his  broad  shoulders, 
his  slender,  shapely  limbs,  and  his  dark  curly  hair 
making  him  look  like  one  of  those  fair  creatures 
whom  the  ancient  Greeks  used  to  chip  out  of  marble 
and  for  want  of  a  better  name  call  gods. 

Mrs.  Fortescue,  who  had  not  yet  lost  all  the  impul 
sive  animation  of  girlhood,  threw  herself  into  a  chair. 
"Daisy,"  she  said  with  a  little  gasp,  "who  is  Mr. 
Eldredge?" 

"  My  brother's  room-mate,"  replied  Margaret,  com 
posedly  ;  and  seating  herself  at  the  piano,  she  began 
to  play  a  melody  by  Chaminade. 


ii  161 


XXIII 

A  FOUR-LEAVED  CLOVER 

"\  T  7ELL,  Joseph,"  said  Eldredge,  as  the  two  men 

V  V  were  making  ready  for  their  evening  call,  "  I 
made  a  brilliant  record  to-day,  —  two  dead  flunks,  a 
fizzle,  and  a  black  eye.  Thank  Heaven,  there  are 
such  things  as  leeches  !  I  had  an  iridescent  blue 
pouch  under  my  left  orb  at  five  o'clock,  but  it  is 
mostly  gone  now.  Joseph,  did  you  ever  meet  Mrs. 
Fortescue  before  this  year  ?  She 's  fond  of  sports, 
apparently.  It  seems  her  husband  used  to  be  on  the 
Eleven  in  the  days  when  they  had  fifteen  men  on  a 
side  and  wore  stovepipe  hats  during  the  game." 

"  That 's  an  interesting  archaeological  fact,"  re 
sponded  Glenn.  "You  ought  to  have  been  a  his 
torian,  Jack." 

"  I  know  it,  but  —  Hang  it  all !  What  has  that 
confounded  old  sweep  done  with  my  sleeve-buttons  ? 
Oh,  yes !  I  beg  pardon,  Andrew ;  here  they  are  on 
the  floor ! " 

Glenn  threw  himself  into  a  chair  and  lit  a  cigar ette? 
while  Eldredge  ransacked  his  wardrobe  for  the  re 
mainder  of  his  apparel. 

"Say,  Jack,"  Glenn  remarked  with  irony,  "you 
ought  to  have  a  couple  of  lackeys  and  a  bookkeeper." 

"I  know  I  am  awfully  footless,  Joe,  but  where  in 
162 


A  FOUR-LEAVED    CLOVER 

the  —     Oh,  yes,  here  's  the  blasted  contrivance  ;  I  've 
got  you  at  last !  " 

In  a  few  minutes  Eldredge  emerged  from  his 
cubby-hole  of  a  bedroom,  drawing  on  his  hands  a  pair 
of  dove-coloured  gloves,  the  effeminacy  of  which  con 
trasted  amusingly  with  his  brown  and  somewhat 
battered  face,  his  stalwart  figure,  and  the  wilful  ex 
pression  which  was  perceptible  in  his  very  hair. 

"  How  does  my  eye  strike  you,  Joseph  ?  " 

"  It  strikes  me  that  somebody  must  have  struck  it ! 
Come  on,  Jack,  and  be  thankful  you  Ve  got  both  ears 
whole  and  have  n't  lost  any  teeth.  You  '11  have  to 
make  up  in  brilliance  what  you  lack  in  looks." 

"  I  don't  feel  so  terribly  clever  this  evening,  either," 
observed  Jack,  as  they  left  their  rooms.  "  If  I  can't 
think  of  anything  bright  to  say  to  Mrs.  Fortescue, 
Joe,  just  put  in  an  oar  for  me,  please.  She  told  me 
last  night  that  football  was  a  charming  game,  —  her 
hobby,  or  something  of  that  sort,  —  and  I  promised 
that  you  'd  tell  her  all  about  it." 

"That  was  thoughtful  of  you,  John,  exceedingly 
thoughtful ;  but  she  looks  young  enough  to  learn." 

"  She  's  really  quite  fascinating." 

"  Of  course  she  is,"  replied  Glenn,  grinning  a  little 
at  the  boyish  simplicity  of  his  chum. 

As  they  were  going  out,  they  met  Tarbell  on  the 
stairs  with  an  Ararat  of  a. trunk  on  his  shoulders. 

"  Hello,  boys !  "  he  said  with  a  dry  smile  ;  "  it  looks 
as  if  we  had  got  our  best  clothes  on  our  backs." 

"  Rather !  "  answered  Glenn.  "  We  're  just  going 
to  make  a  duty  call  that  Jack 's  been  owing  for  the 
last  twenty-four  hours." 

163 


BOYS  AND   MEN 

«  Oh  ! "  exclaimed  Tarbell.  "  Well,  I  'm  sorry  for 
you ; "  and  he  continued  his  ascent,  bearing  his  load 
as  easily  as  a  puny  man  would  carry  a  bandbox. 

During  the  short  walk  from  the  Quadrangle  to  the 
Fortescues*  house,  Glenn  kept  up  a  fire  of  amiable 
raillery ;  while  Eldredge,  who  was  no  match  for  his 
chum  at  repartee,  would  not  venture  a  reply  except 
now  and  then  a  monosyllable,  or  a  mere  grunt  if  his 
companion  carried  his  witticisms  to  the  point  where 
Jack's  capacity  to  appreciate  the  humour  ended.  The 
two  men  had  always  been  the  best  of  friends,  but 
there  was  a  vein  of  satire  in  Glenn's  wit  which  found 
no  response  in  Eldredge.  Glenn  was  forever  seeing 
the  ideas  of  things,  and  adding  to  those  ideas  a  hun 
dred  more  of  his  own  invention,  while  Eldredge  saw 
the  things  themselves  and  little  beyond.  Therefore 
Jack  took  himself  and  every  one  else  quite  literally, 
without  involving  his  conceptions  in  a  web,  or  spin 
ning  around  them  any  philosophy.  So  he  wondered 
why  his  room-mate  took  such  delight  in  playing  with 
words;  and  sometimes  he  all  but  suspected  that  Glenn 
was  insincere,  or  thought  him  frivolous  and  unkind. 
If  he  could  have  gone  deeper  into  the  other  man,  he 
would  have  found  a  heart  as  untainted  as  his  own. 
They  were  simply  two  different  men ;  and  had  Jack 
been  more  of  a  philosopher,  he  might  have  seen  that 
it  was  not  he,  but  his  room-mate,  Glenn,  who  took  life 
in  the  safer,  more  amusing  way. 

As  they  reached  the  house,  they  could  hear  some 
one  singing,  and,  looking  into  the  brilliantly  lighted 
parlour,  they  saw  Margaret  at  the  piano.  Her  head 
was  thrown  slightly  back,  and  she  seemed  to  be 

164 


A   FOUR-LEAVED   CLOVER 

mimicking  the  actions  of  some  affected  performer. 
Mrs.  Fortescue  was  turning  the  leaves  for  her  and 
laughing.  As  with  a  tragical  flourish  she  played  the 
last  chord,  they  rang  and  were  shown  into  the  draw 
ing-room. 

How  delighted  Mrs.  Fortescue  was  to  see  them; 
and  how  sorry  that  her  husband  was  unable  to  be 
present !  He  would  have  enjoyed  it  so  to  meet  both 
Mr.  Glenn  and  Mr.  Eldredge  ;  and  how  cosey  a  dinner 
they  might  have  had  if  Mr.  Eldredge  had  not  been 
bound  to  dine  at  the  training  table !  She  was 
flushed  and  pretty  enough  as  she  made  all  these 
declarations.  But  Margaret  with  her  yellow  hair, 
her  glowing  cheeks,  and  her  playful  cajoling  blue 
eyes,  seemed  to  Jack  —  and  to  her  brother,  for  that 
matter  —  the  incarnation  of  loveliness. 

"  By  George !  Daisy,"  whispered  Glenn  to  his 
sister,  "  you  're  as  pretty  as  a  peach ! " 

"  We  heard  you  singing  as  we  came,"  put  in  Jack, 
for  want  of  something  better,  "  and  waited  till  you 
had  ended  before  we  rang." 

"  That  was  very  considerate,  Mr.  Eldredge,"  she 
answered,  in  such  a  way  that  he  could  not  tell  whether 
she  was  in  earnest  or  not.  "But  it  was  unkind  to 
snub  our  invitation.  We  were  really  dismal  without 
you." 

"  I  'd  have  given  anything  to  come,"  said  Jack. 

"  Oh,  Mr.  Glenn,"  exclaimed  Mrs.  Fortescue  at  that 
instant,  "  are  you  really  fond  of  old  things  ?  " 

"  Very  !  "  replied  Glenn.  "  Especially  nice  old 
things  with  ear-marks." 

44  Then  I  am  going  to  show  you  some  of  the  queer- 
165 


BOYS   AND   MEN 

est  antique  china  which  my  grandfather  brought  from 
Peking  ever  so  long  ago.  Daisy  dear,  you  are  to 
entertain  Mr.  Eldredge.  I  am  sure  you  will  pardon 
me  for  deserting  you,  will  you  not  ?  " 

Glenn  followed  his  hostess  into  the  dining-room, 
and  Jack  was  left  alone  with  Margaret.  She  rose 
and,  passing  into  a  great  bay  window  which  was  hung 
with  heavy  brocaded  silk,  seated  herself  upon  a  sofa 
upholstered  in  flaming  crimson  which  harmonized 
gorgeously,  as  she  well  knew,  with  her  dress  of  cream 
and  gold. 

"  It 's  ever  so  much  nicer  here  than  to  sit  out  in 
the  middle  of  this  big  place  on  those  stiff -backed, 
formal  little  chairs.  Don't  you  think  so  ?  " 

"  It  does  look  more  comfortable,"  replied  Eldredge, 
simply ;  and  he  drew  a  chair  to  a  respectful  distance 
from  where  the  girl  was  sitting. 

"I  saw  you  this  afternoon,"  she  said,  "  out  at  the 
Field.  Mrs.  Fortescue  and  I  drove  up  just  as  that 
scuffle  had  occurred.  You  were  stretched  on  the 
ground  and  a  man  was  sopping  your  face  with  a  big 
sponge.  Caroline  feared  it  was  something  dreadful, 
but  I  knew  it  was  n't.  You  could  not  be  hurt,  could 
you?" 

"Not  fatally,"  he  answered.  "A  rap  now  and 
then  is  nothing  serious.  Last  year  a  two-hundred 
pounder  sat  down  a  little  too  hard  on  my  neck  and 
sort  of  cracked  my  collar-bone." 

"  What ! "  cried  Margaret,  with  a  smile  at  his  off 
hand  way  of  putting  it.  "  But  you  did  n't  tell  me 
about  it !  " 

"  I  should  n't  think  it  would  have  interested  you," 
166 


A  FOUR-LEAVED   CLOVER 

Jack  answered.  u  Besides,  when  you  came  it  had 
been  well  for  weeks  and  I  'd  forgotten  about  it." 

"  But  it  must  be  horrible ! "  she  exclaimed,  clasp 
ing  her  hands  and  looking  at  him  as  if  seized  for  a 
moment  by  some  mysterious  fascination.  "  To  think 
of  having  one's  bones  bend  until  they  break  !  Ugh !  it 
makes  shivers  go  over  me.  When  that  struggle  came 
to-day  and  I  saw  that  it  was  you  who  had  been  hurt, 
my  heart  jumped.  Of  course,"  she  added  quickly,  "  it 
is  dreadful  to  have  an  accident  happen  to  anybody." 

"I  don't  mind  accidents  very  much,"  Eldredge 
answered  in  his  matter-of-fact  way.  "  They  come 
like  that,  you  know,  in  a  second,  and  then  it's  all 
over  and  nothing  's  to  pay  but  the  doctor." 

"  And  then,"  said  Margaret,  with  a  droll  expres 
sion  playing  about  her  mouth,  "  it 's  worth  a  bone  or 
two  to  be  a  hero.  People  have  such  a  hard  time  to 
be  heroes  nowadays ! "  she  exclaimed,  with  a  mock 
sigh.  "  Some  men  get  a  chance  once  in  a  while,  but 
it  never  comes  to  us.  When  you  had  been  revived 
this  afternoon  and  they  helped  you  to  your  feet,  the 
whole  crowd  cheered  and  clapped  their  hands.  I 
was  quite  envious,  but  I  clapped  mine,  too.  Did  you 
hear  me  ?  " 

"  I  'm  afraid  not,"  he  answered. 

"Well,  it's  very  sad  not  to  be  appreciated,"  she 
continued,  "  especially  when  the  unappreciated  per 
son  is  one's  self." 

"  I  only  wish  I  'd  known  you  were  coming  out," 
said  Jack.  "  But  you  did  n't  tell  me." 

"  Oh,  no,  indeed  !  That  would  have  made  double 
interference.  We  were  just  out  for  a  drive,  you 

167 


BOYS  AND   MEN 

know,  and  I  thought  it  would  be  nice  to  see  the 
teams  at  work ;  so  we  came.  But  it 's  too  bad !  I 
must  be  a  bird  of  ill  omen.  You  will  have  to  cross 
your  fingers  every  time  you  see  me  coming.  Some 
thing  dreadful  may  happen  if  you  don't.  Oh,  I  'm 
quite  sure,"  she  said  sweetly,  —  and  ever  that  puz 
zling  smile  upon  her  face,  —  "I  'in  quite  sure  my  con 
science  would  never  bear  such  a  heavy  load !  It 's 
very  weak,  and  if  I  should  —  " 

"  Oh,  no,  you  won't ! "  he  protested.  "  On  the 
contrary,  I  'm  certain  you  will  bring  me  luck  ;  you  '11 
be  my  talisman,"  said  Eldredge,  dodging  the  word 
"  mascot,"  which  he  associated  with  bulldogs  in  a 
vague  sort  of  way. 

A  furtive  smile  came  upon  the  girl's  lips,  and  with 
her  head  slightly  to  one  side  she  began  to  stroke  the 
petals  of  a  rose  which  lay  upon  her  lap. 

"  No,  I  could  n't  be  a  talisman,"  she  murmured. 

"  Is  a  talisman  masculine  ? "  asked  Jack,  with  a 
start  and  some  misgivings  as  to  his  grammar.  For  a 
moment  Margaret  continued  to  fondle  the  flower  in 
silence. 

"No,"  she  said.  "I  wasn't  thinking  about  that. 
I  was  wondering  —  no  —  you  'd  think  me  too  absurd 
if  I  told  you  such  a  thing  !  " 

"What  is  it?"  demanded  Eldredge. 

"  My  brother  says  I  'm  a  hoodoo ;  he  said  it  only 
to-day.  You  remember  my  saying  to  you  that  I 
arrived  just  in  time  to  see  you  hurt.  Well,  now,  if 
I  tell  you  something  ever  so  improbable,  don't  think 
I  'm  superstitious,  because  I  'm  not,  the  least  bit ! 
You  won't,  will  you  ?  " 

168 


A  FOUR-LEA YED   CLOVER 

"  No,  I  surely  will  not,"  declared  Eldredge. 

"  Then  I  '11  tell  you,"  she  said,  "  but  you  must  n't 
repeat  a  word  of  this  to  my  brother.  He  thinks  I 
have  leanings  toward  spiritualism,  theosophy,  and 
that  sort  of  thing  ;  and  if  he  suspected  that  I  had  any 
thing  to  do  with  such  ideas,  he  would  say  very  saucy 
things  to  me,  and  I  might  be  made  unhappy,  because 
my  brother  seems  to  me  as  wise  as  Solon.  But  if  I 
should  tell  you  one  of  my  secrets,  you  would  keep  it 
as  if  it  were  your  own,  would  n't  you  ?  " 

"  I  would,"  said  Eldredge,  fervently ;  and  picking 
up  the  rose  which  lay  at  her  feet,  he  seated  himself 
beside  her. 

"  Now,"  said  Margaret,  "  I  '11  tell  my  story.  About 
six  weeks  ago  I  was  riding  one  afternoon  out  through 
the  country,  miles  from  home  and  quite  alone.  It 
was  beginning  to  grow  dark,  so  I  turned  my  horse 
into  a  short  cut  through  some  woods.  We  hadn't 
gone  very  far,  when  Potter  (that 's  the  horse,  you 
understand)  trotted  right  into  a  gypsy  camp.  There 
were  a  lot  of  horses  tethered  near  some  tents,  and 
when  they  caught  sight  of  mine  they  began  to  neigh, 
and  came  running  up  as  near  as  the  ropes  would  let 
them.  One  of  the  beasts  whirled  around  and  let  his 
heels  fly  at  Potter,  who  jumped  so  hard  that  he  almost 
threw  me.  Then  one  of  the  gypsies  rushed  out  of 
his  tent  and  caught  my  horse  by  the  bridle.  '  You  'd 
better  get  off  a  second,  Miss,'  he  said,  '  your  saddle  's 
turnin' ;  I  '11  jes'  tighten  this  here  girth.'  He  was  a 
horrible-looking  fellow.  I  dismounted,  however,  and 
while  the  man  was  straightening  my  saddle  an  old 
woman  with  a  red  handkerchief  tied  about  her  head 

169 


BOYS   AND   MEN 

came  up  behind  me.  4  Pretty  lady,'  she  said,  with 
such  a  funny  foreign  accent,  '  would  you  like  to  have 
your  fortune  told  ?  '  I  thought  it  would  be  a  lark ; 
besides,  you  know,  Mr.  Eldredge,  I  feel  like  doing 
something  romantic  once  in  a  while.  So  I  told  the 
man  to  hold  my  horse  and  went  with  the  woman  into 
her  tent.  She  had  a  dreadfully  dirty  pack  of  cards, 
which  she  shuffled  and  laid  out  upon  a  board.  Then 
she  began  to  say  all  sorts  of  queer  things.  It  was 
astonishing  how  much  she  knew." 

"  Won't  you  tell  me  some  of  them  ? "  asked 
Eldredge. 

"  Oh,  dear,  no !  They  were  mostly  very  silly 
things.  Here  is  all  I  am  going  to  tell.  When  the 
old  woman  had  done  with  the  cards,  she  took  both 
my  hands  in  hers,  and  told  me  by  the  lines  in  my 
palms  ever  so  many  things  about  the  future." 

"  And  you  believed  her?  "  inquired  Eldredge. 

"No,  not  altogether,"  answered  Margaret.  "If 
I  did,  I  'd  never  tell  what  the  gypsy  foretold.  It  was 
horrible.  She  put  it  into  a  sort  of  doggerel,  which 
I  can't  remember,  for  it  was  full  of  uncouth  expres 
sions  and  dreadfully  ungrammatical.  She  said,"  con 
tinued  Margaret,  hesitating  and  clutching  the  rose 
tightly,  — "  she  said  that  I  was  destined  to  meet 
somebody  whom  I  should  like  very  much,  and  whom 
I  should  one  day  make  unhappy." 

"  Who  was  it  ?  "  asked  Jack,  with  his  heart  in  his 
throat. 

"  Oh,  don't  ask  me  !  It 's  a  silly  old  woman's  tale, 
and  I  don't  believe  it  anyhow." 

"Is  any  part  of  it  true?"  Jack  asked,  in  his 
170 


A   FOUR-LEAVED   CLOVER 

boyishly  earnest  way,  and  with  a  quaver  in  his 
voice. 

"  Yes,"  she  answered,  "  a  very  little  part  is  true." 
Their  eyes  met  for  only  a  second,  but  in  that  fateful 
moment  of  his  life  Jack  Eldredge's  soul  rose  from  its 
mysterious  hiding-place,  and,  rushing  into  his  face, 
betrayed  him  as  plainly  as  if  he  had  confessed  in 
words. 

Margaret  played  silently  with  the  rose  for  a  while, 
stroking  its  petals  and  burying  her  shapely  nose 
within  its  scented  bosom.  Finally  she  raised  her 
eyes  to  Jack's,  and  added :  "  I  have  n't  told  you  all. 
When  I  left  the  gypsy  she  declared  that  if  I  wanted 
to  ward  off  ill  luck,  I  must  have  a  counter  charm. 
Here  it  is."  She  detached  from  her  chatelaine  a  tiny 
gold  locket  and  handed  it  to  Eldredge.  "  Open  it," 
she  commanded.  He  pried  the  thing  open,  and  saw, 
pressed  beneath  the  glass,  a  four-leaved  clover. 

"  That  is  my  talisman  !  "  exclaimed  Margaret,  tri 
umphantly.  "  You  're  sure  to  have  good  luck  for 
ever  unless  you  lose  it.  But  you  mustn't  lose  it. 
And  besides,"  she  went  on  with  a  little  raillery, 
"  you  must  n't  take  this  nonsense  seriously.  Just 
look  at  yourself  in  that  mirror  I "  Eldredge  rose, 
partly  for  the  humour  of  the  thing,  partly  to  gratify 
the  girl's  whim,  and  stood  before  the  tall  mirror, 
making  a  brave  effort  to  seem  unconcerned. 

"  Now,"  she  continued,  "  don't  you  see  how  much 
like  a  funeral  you  look  ?  But  it 's  my  fault  — 
though  you  mustn't  take  me  in  such  sober  earnest." 
She  came  and  stood  beside  him  in  front  of  the  mirror, 
and  he  saw  her  reflection  in  it  with  the  mysterious 

171 


BOYS  AND   MEN 

smile  hovering  about  her  eyes  and  lips.  "  You  see," 
she  observed,  "  how  different  we  are." 

"I  hear  Joe  and  Mrs.  Fortescue  coming,"  said 
Eldredge,  uneasily.  Margaret  went  to  the  piano, 
looking  back  at  Eldredge  over  her  shoulder.  Her 
face  had  an  expression  of  merriment  which  perplexed 
and  rather  nettled  him  ;  but,  as  if  unconscious  of  his 
own  movements,  he  followed  her.  At  the  instant 
when  Glenn  and  Mrs.  Fortescue  entered  the  room, 
Margaret  was  playing  softly,  and  Eldredge,  bending 
over  her,  was  turning  the  leaves. 

"  I  have  n't  the  least  doubt,"  Glenn  was  saying, 
"  that  it 's  a  genuine  piece  of  old  Imari." 

"  Well,  Daisy,"  exclaimed  her  chaperone,  with  a 
sigh  of  regret,  "  I  'm  sorry  you  care  so  little  about 
my  antiquities.  Your  brother  has  been  telling  me 
all  sorts  of  fascinating  things.  He  is  a  connoisseur  !  " 

"  Yes,"  responded  Margaret,  "  of  antiquities." 

The  great  mahogany  clock  in  the  hall  was  striking 
ever  so  much  o'clock  when  Glenn  and  Eldredge  rose 
to  go. 

"  I  fear,"  said  Mrs.  Fortescue,  "  that  my  husband 
won't  be  able  to  go,  though  he  has  counted  on  it  for 
weeks,  and  has  I  don't  know  how  many  wagers  on 
the  game." 

"  Then,  with  his  permission,  I  '11  look  out  for 
both  of  you,"  answered  Glenn.  "  May  I  ?  " 

"  Indeed  you  may,"  replied  Mrs.  Fortescue,  smiling 
sweetly.  "  And  after  the  game  Mr.  Eldredge  will 
join  us,  and  we  '11  all  come  back  here  and  have  the 
cosiest  possible  little  supper." 

172 


A  FOUR-LEAVED   CLOVER 

"  I  'm  sorry/'  said  Jack,  "  that  is  another  impossi 
bility,  for,  if  we  win,  I  shall  have  to  come  back  to 
Xew  Haven  with  the  team  —  and  of  course  we  shall 
win/ 
Mrs.  Fortescue  declared  herself  quite  inconsolable. 
The  Fates  seemed  to  stand  in  her  way,  —  the  Fates ! 
"And  I  shan't  be  able  to  return  with  you,"  said 
Margaret.     Then  she  added  gravely,  "I  suppose  I 
must  go  home  immediately  after  the  game." 

When   Eldredge   took  Margaret's  hand  and  said 
good-night,  she  answered  softly,  "  Good-night,  Jack. 
Beware  you  never  lose  the  four-leaved  clover." 
"  I  'd  as  soon  think  of  losing  my  soul." 
"  Oh,  but  it  would  be  less  dangerous  to  part  with 
that  than  to  lose  my  clover !  " 

"Come  along,  Jack,"  said  Glenn.     "If  we  stay 
much  longer,  the  clock  will  strike  thirteen." 


173 


XXIV 

AFTER  THE  BATTLE 

HOW  in  the  last  November  days  of  that  memo 
rable  year  the  tried  and  chosen  defenders  of 
Yale's  honour  gathered  to  be  instructed  for  the  last 
time ;  how  they  were  drawn  away  in  coaches  from  the 
University  yard  to  the  din  of  crackers  and  the  cheers 
of  hoi  polloi  (just  as  it  is  told  in  the  Iliad  that  a  tre 
mendous  shout  went  up  from  the  herd  of  men  behind 
when  the  heroes  rode  forth  to  combat) ;  how  also  the 
whole  country  read  of  these  things  and  pinned  its  faith 
on  the  one  set  of  champions  or  upon  the  other,  —  all 
this  was  set  forth  long  ago  with  the  details  that  serve 
to  add  interest  to  the  truth,  and  therefore  needs  no 
second  telling. 

Nor  indeed  is  it  worth  while  to  relate  how  the 
great  battle  at  Springfield  was  fought  and  finished. 
The  history  of  that  conflict  has  been  written  by  ex 
perts  who  were  there  (and  by  others  who  were  not), 
as  passionately  as  if  it  had  been  another  Waterloo. 
The  outer  world  has  long  since  forgotten  who  fought 
upon  that  day  and  who  was  worsted ;  but  in  the  halls 
of  Yale  and  Harvard  the  story  is  still  told,  and  the 
unhappy  incidents  connected  with  it  are  remembered, 
though  the  bitterness  which  was  then  engendered  has 
been  softened,  if  not  quite  eradicated,  by  the  passage 
of  years. 

174 


AFTER  THE  BATTLE 

The  mediaeval  chroniclers  tell  how  lovely  knights 
rode  out  to  break  a  lance,  while  above  and  around 
them  sat  their  fair  partisans ;  how  each  lady  who  had 
a  champion  wore  near  to  her  heart  the  emblem  of  her 
favourite,  and  how  he  carried  beneath  his  corselet  some 
token  of  her  faith.  All  this  makes  pleasant  reading; 
for  there  is  always  a  charm  in  resplendent  costumes, 
in  the  shock  of  horses  and  the  spilling  of  blood.  Yet 
could  any  of  these  scenes  have  been  fairer  or  more 
thrilling  than  this  of  our  own  times?  Fancy  the 
four  banks  of  people  rising  high  in  masses  of  blue  and 
crimson,  the  fluttering  flags,  the  singing,  the  cheers, 
and  beneath  it  all,  the  beating  of  hearts  and  the  ner 
vous  fear  of  possible  defeat.  To  those  whose  veins 
run  water  instead  of  blood,  who  have  been  refined  and 
weakened  by  shunning  the  shock  of  life  till  their 
minds  shrink  at  any  battles  save  those  in  their  books, 
such  things  seem  brutal  and  out  of  place;  but  for 
those  whose  arteries  are  warm  with  the  vigorous  flow 
of  primeval  strength,  the  conflict  of  strong,  healthy 
bodies  is  a  glorious  thing,  and  they  enjoy  it  as  the 
Homeric  bards  enjoyed  the  clash  of  combat  long  be 
fore  "brutality"  became  a  catchword  of  weak-kneed 
mortals. 

When  the  twenty-two  champions  came  running 
upon  the  field,  living  banks  rose  as  if  by  one  impulse, 
and  a  great  cheer  broke  the  air.  Somewhere  in  the 
mass  of  blue  stood  the  tall  figure  of  Margaret  Glenn, 
with  a  silk  banner  in  her  hand;  her  cheeks  flushed 
with  excitement,  looking  eagerly  down  upon  the  tum 
bling  athletes  as  they  warmed  themselves  for  the 
struggle.  In  a  lull  of  the  play  Jack  scanned  a  cer- 

175 


BOYS  AND   MEN 

tain  part  of  the  throng ;  he  nodded,  and  the  tiny  blue 
flag  fluttered  violently. 

In  a  moment  the  crowd  sinks  back  upon  the  seats, 
and  there  is  an  intense  silence  as  the  opposing  teams 
take  their  stations  and  poise  themselves  for  the  crash. 
A  second  more  and  they  are  lying  in  a  heaving  pile. 
They  free  their  entangled  bodies  and  line  up  in  two 
swaying  walls.  There  is  a  signal,  and  the  mass 
swings  around  against  its  weakest  point.  It  totters  a 
moment,  then  falls  a  few  yards  nearer  one  of  the 
goals.  Harvard  is  working  into  Yale's  ground,  and 
the  crimson  tiers  are  shaken  with  a  disorderly  roar, 
while  the  dark -red  banners  wave  tumultuously.  As 
the  players  array  themselves  for  the  next  struggle, 
men  stationed  at  intervals  along  the  lines  turn  to  the 
crowd  and  give  in  unison  the  signal  for  a  cheer.  It 
comes,  and  with  such  volume  that  the  combatants, 
unable  to  hear  the  secret  numbers,  stop  for  an  instant, 
waiting  for  the  noise  to  cease. 

Slowly  the  ball  is  carried  nearer  and  nearer  to 
Yale's  goal,  till  one  bull -like  rush  carries  it  over. 
Then  how  the  red  flags  flutter,  what  a  yell  issues 
from  thousands  of  dry  throats,  how  the  substitutes 
along  the  Harvard  side  embrace  each  other  and  wave 
their  sweaters  with  triumph  and  joy!  It  is  short 
lived,  for  the  rival  teams  are  engaged  once  more,  and 
the  Yalensians  are  doggedly  pushing  their  antago 
nists  down  the  field,  yard  by  yard,  with  grim,  set 
faces.  Of  a  sudden  there  is  heard  the  spat  and  thud 
of  a  heavy  blow.  A  minute  later  a  young  fellow 
walks  off  the  "gridiron"  with  his  chin  upon  his 
breast.  The  knocking  out  of  Tarbell's  wind  has  for 

176 


AFTER  THE   BATTLE 

an  instant  left  his  body  as  helpless  as  a  big  engine 
which  has  suddenly  lost  its  steam.  He  lies  helpless, 
rolling  from  side  to  side,  but  without  a  groan.  When 
he  gets  to  his  feet,  this  unavoidable  heroism  is  re 
warded  with  a  lusty  cheer  and  a  clapping  of  hands,  — 
an  attention  which  he  acknowledges  by  plunging  into 
the  conflict  with  fresh  energy,  while  his  big  hands  and 
elbows  play  pitilessly  upon  his  adversary. 

Up  to  this  point  Yale  has  been  fighting  with  the 
stubbornness  of  the  bulldog,  losing  one  yard  but 
gaining  six.  Suddenly  the  tension  is  released,  and 
an  elusive  sprinter  dashing  around  the  end  lies  down 
between  Harvard's  goal  posts  with  the  ball  in  his  arms. 
After  such  a  prodigious  outlay  of  muscle  the  trick 
seems  absurdly  easy.  The  crimson  side  of  the  field  is 
silent,  but  two  thousand  Yalensians  with  their  five 
thousand  hangers-on  rise  and  send  forth  a  lusty  cheer. 

It  was  a  severe  and  at  some  moments  almost  san 
guinary  struggle.  Divers  heroes  were  carried  Jwrs 
de  combat,  and  doubtless  there  were  some  troubled 
breasts  amongst  those  who  witnessed  the  fight,  and 
saw  their  darlings  damaged  by  others'  darlings,  whose 
every  move  was  doubtless  followed  with  the  same 
anxious  and  tender  fear.  It  was  near  the  end  of  the 
game  that  Jack  Eldredge  got  the  blow  which  threat 
ened  for  a  while  partially  to  destroy  his  sight,  and 
left  him  so  dizzy  that  he  would  certainly  have 
swooned  had  not  the  excitement  toughened  his  nerves 
and  rendered  him  almost  unconscious  of  his  injury. 
So  far  from  being  disabled  by  the  blow,  he  re-entered 
the  conflict,  after  the  first  dazed,  sickish  feeling, 
with  resistless  energy.  James  has  since  declared 
12  177 


BOYS  AND   MEN 

that  when  the  mishap  came  he  saw  Margaret  turn 
pale,  while  she  clutched  her  brother  by  the  arm; 
but  there  is  ground  for  doubting  the  truth  of  this, 
since  the  man  who  told  it  had  ever  an  inclination  to 
shed  a  nimbus  of  romance  about  the  incidents  con 
nected  with  Jack  Eldredge. 

The  fact  is  that  it  was  Eldredge  who  made,  with 
Tarbell's  help,  the  play  which  decided  the  issue  of 
that  year's  struggle,  and  caused  both  their  names  to 
be  written  down  amongst  those  of  Yale's  great  heroes. 
And  certainly  it  was  a  wonderful  sight,  comparable  to 
some  of  the  most  thrilling  of  the  fabulous  things  that 
happened  by  the  Scamander.  Else  how  could  it  have 
been  that  thousands  of  people  went  almost  mad  with 
excitement,  tossing  hats  and  umbrellas  into  the  air 
and  hugging  each  other  in  a  sort  of  frenzy,  shouting 
louder  than  before  their  voices  had  been  lost  ? 

As  for  the  victors,  they  were  hoisted  upon  the 
shoulders  of  the  crowd  and  borne  off  in  triumph,  with 
Tarbell  and  Eldredge  at  the  head,  while  a  brass -band 
struck  up  a  martial  air,  and  open-mouthed  urchins 
edged  their  way  into  the  marching  throng  to  get  a 
look  at  Hie  mighty  champions. 

It  would  not  be  hard  to  say  how  all  this  worship 
affected  Tarbell;  for,  whatever  his  inner  emotions 
may  have  been,  he  was  too  old  in  the  ways  of  the 
world  to  let  his  head  be  turned,  and  he  had  gone 
through  experiences  so  much  more  exciting  in  his 
wild  boyhood  that  all  the  blare  and  exultation  left  him 
cool  and  self-contained.  But  to  Jack  it  was  an  in 
toxication  of  glory.  As  he  rode  in  triumph  upon  the 
shoulders  of  his  admirers,  and  heard  his  name  borne 

178 


AFTER  THE   BATTLE 

aloft  by  the  cheering  thousands,  there  came  over  him 
an  exaltation.  In  the  excitement  of  that  hour,  obliv 
ious  of  his  wounded  eye  and  all  other  paltry  realities 
of  life,  he  drank  in  his  glory,  —  the  sweetest  draught 
that  ever  passes  a  man's  lips  and  that  leaves  the  bit 
terest  dregs.  There  are  moments  in  our  lives  when 
we  are  permitted  a  joy  so  intense,  when  we  are  seized 
by  such  an  ecstasy,  that  there  is  hardly  a  man  who 
would  not  rather  live  them,  revelling  for  a  single  in 
stant  in  the  fever  of  his  self -exaltation,  than  go  for 
ever  the  humdrum  pace  which  stupidity  or  lack  of 
opportunity  sets  as  the  common  lot. 

When  Eldredge,  Tarbell,  and  the  others  had  been 
once  more  set  upon  the  earth,  they  cast  off  their  reek 
ing,  blood-stained  armour,  and  soused  themselves  under 
icy  showers,  sputtering,  dancing,  slapping  their  skins 
to  a  glow,  while  a  crowd  of  trainers,  doctors,  coaches, 
and  all  the  crew  of  retainers  stood  by  and  exchanged 
opinions  about  the  game.  Had  anybody  seen  how 
somebody  thumped  somebody  else  while  the  referee 
wasn't  looking?  Was  the  ball  actually  in  So-and- 
so's  possession  when  he  yelled  Down?  Wouldn't 
the  score  have  been  bigger  with  five  minutes  more  to 
play?  Were  Slugger  Mill's  jeans  actually  ripped,  or 
was  he  only  getting  his  wind?  etc.,  etc.  Meanwhile 
the  heroes  were  properly  rubbed  down  and  dried  with 
alcohol.  It  was  during  this  operation  that  Eldredge 
suddenly  noticed  that  his  eye  was  smarting  as  if  it 
had  been  burned.  He  closed  the  other  and  tried  to 
distinguish  objects  on  the  ceiling,  but  they  were 
blurred.  Then  he  called  one  of  the  doctors,  and 
asked  if  there  was  anything  peculiar  about  that. 

179 


BOYS  AND   MEN 

"How  does  it  feel?"  asked  the  physician. 

"It  hurts  like  the  deuce,"  Jack  answered  promptly. 
" But  how  does  it  look?  " 

"Well,  I  don't  know,"  spoke  the  physician;  "am 
inclined  to  think  you  'd  better  have  it  looked  into  by 
an  oculist.  Meanwhile  I  '11  bandage  you  up  with  a 
poultice." 

"  Thank  you  very  much,  doctor,  but  I  think  I  '11 
not  have  any  poultice  on  it  this  time.  It  '11  be  all 
right  in  a  day  or  two.  People  might  think  I  'd  been 
fighting  if  I  had  a  bandage  wound  around  my  head, 
might  n't  they?" 

"If  you  don't  catch  cold  in  it,  you'll  have  no 
trouble,"  continued  the  doctor;  "but  you  may  not  be 
able  to  see." 

"See!  of  course  I'll  be  able  to  see,"  responded 
Jack,  laughing  and  clapping  a  hand  over  the  wounded 
member.  "  If  one  eye  is  no  good,  what 's  to  hinder  a 
fellow  from  using  the  other?  That's  why  the  Lord 
gave  us  two  —  in  case  one  got  hurt,  you  know." 

Tarbell  laid  his  hand  affectionately  on  Jack's  shoul 
der  and  told  him  not  to  be  a  fool,  an  injunction  to 
which  he  added  a  description  of  glass  eyes  so  accurate 
that  Eldredge's  stubbornness  vanished.  While  the 
doctor  was  bandaging  his  head,  a  messenger  boy 
entered  and  shouted,  — 

"  'S  there  anybody  here  by  the  name  of  Eldredge  ?  " 

"I  'm  your  man,"  said  Jack. 

"  Well,  I  've  bin  lookin'  fer  ye  everywhere.  There 
ain't  nothin'  to  pay."  He  delivered  his  message  and 
marched  out  with  his  hands  in  his  pockets,  whistling. 

Jack  ripped  the  thing  open  and  read:  — 
180 


AFTER  THE  BATTLE 

46  CHICOPEE  STREET,  SPRINGFIELD,  5.15  p.  M. 
DEAR  JACK,  —  Mrs.  Fortescue  has  just  left  us,  that 
means  Joe  and  myself,  and  gone  back  to  New  Haven. 
Would  n't  you  like  to  dine  with  us  ?  I  am  going  home 
early  to-morrow,  you  know,  and  this  will  be  the  last 
chance  of  seeing  you.  My  brother  has  made  an  engage 
ment  to  call  on  some  people  this  evening,  and  he  says 
he  must  keep  it.  So  I  want  you  to  come;  and  indeed 
I  am  quite  sure  you  will  not  be  so  unkind  as  to  leave 
me  alone.  MARGARET. 

The  word  "  Margaret "  was  scrawled  as  if  in  haste. 
Jack  scanned  the  note  closely,  reading  it  over  and 
over,  astonished  at  Margaret's  change  of  plan  and 
wondering  at  the  omission  of  the  formula  with  which 
conventionality  bids  us  conclude  our  letters.  He 
thrust  the  note  into  one  of  his  pockets  and  stood  for 
a  moment  thinking. 

The  team  were  now  completely  dressed,  and  the 
captain  shouted  in  a  tone  of  command  for  every  one 
to  get  into  a  coach  which  was  waiting  at  the  door. 
"  We  are  to  reach  New  Haven  at  half -past  seven,  sure. 
All  preparations  have  been  made  for  a  banquet,  and 
every  man  is  expected  to  be  there." 

Eldredge  hesitated  for  a  moment.  Then  he  went 
to  the  captain  and  said:  "I  'm  awfully  sorry,  Mack, 
but  I  can't  be  there.  The  doctor  thinks  my  eye 
should  be  looked  to  immediately;  so  I  must  ask  you 
to  excuse  me." 

"  Is  it  anything  serious  ?  "  asked  the  captain. 

"Well,  not  now,"  he  answered;  "only  it 's  one  of 
those  things  that  might  turn  out  wrong  if  I  did  n't 
attend  to  it." 

181 


BOYS   AND   MEN 

With  this  evasion  upon  his  lips,  Jack  waved  a 
good-bye  and  hastened  from  the  room.  He  threaded 
his  way  through  the  great  throng  who  were  jostling 
along  the  narrow  streets  on  their  way  to  the  railway 
station.  As  he  hurried,  he  felt  himself  seized  from 
behind.  It  was  Budson. 

"You  weren't  badly  hurt,  were  you,  Jack?" 
"  Oh,  no,  Bud ;  just  a  little  smack  on  the  eye.     Are 
you  going  by  the  first  train? " 

"  Gracious,  no !  With  three  girls  on  my  hands !  " 
"You  don't  say  so!"  exclaimed  Eldredge,  and  he 
was  off  before  Budson  could  ask  him  to  share  the 
triple  burden.  Small  boys  were  wriggling  through 
the  crowd,  shouting :  "  Extry !  Extry !  Full  descrip 
tion  of  the  great  victory!  Here  ye  are,  mister!  Have 
one !  "  Jack  was  so  bent  on  his  errand  that  he  did 
not  think  of  buying  a  paper,  though  he  caught  sight 
of  various  impossible  representations  of  his  own  face 
and  several  times  heard  some  more  garrulous  young 
ster  howling  his  name.  He  brushed  past  the  fakirs, 
who  were  desperately  trying  to  sell  their  left-over 
wares,  or  who,  recognizing  him  as  the  great  man  of  the 
day,  thrust  in  his  face  the  "winning  colours."  With 
all  speed  he  pushed  through  the  carriages,  down  one 
street  and  up  another,  till  he  arrived  at  the  number 
which  he  had  read  at  the  top  of  Margaret's  letter.  He 
had  forgotten  his  aching  eye,  nay,  even  the  unsightly 
bandage,  nor  had  it  occurred  to  him  that  after  all  he  was 
doing  a  strange  thing  to  desert  the  feast  of  his  peers 
and  fib  to  them  into  the  bargain.  As  he  touched  the 
bell  of  the  house  where  she  was  staying,  his  room-mate 
issued  from  the  door.  Joseph  gazed  at  him  aghast. 

182 


AFTER  THE  BATTLE 

"What  in  thunder!"  he  blurted—  "Why,  man, 
you  look  as  if  you  had  collided  with  a  train!  " 

"Do  I?"  returned  Eldredge.  "And  what's  your 
great  hurry?" 

"  Some  nice  people  to  see  off  at  the  station,  Jack ; 
I  '11  be  back  for  dinner.  Daisy  is  expecting  you. 
And  for  heaven's  sake,  don't  come  on  her  too  sud 
denly  with  that  eye !  " 

Eldredge  stopped  for  an  instant  in  the  hall  and  sur 
veyed  himself  in  a  mirror.  He  was  half  minded  to 
tear  off  the  bandage,  but  then,  it  occurred  to  him  that 
the  exposure  might  be  worse  than  the  concealment; 
so  with  a  smile  at  his  own  damaged  countenance,  he 
entered  the  room.  Margaret  sat  in  front  of  a  fire  with 
her  hat  still  on,  toasting  her  feet.  Hearing  his  step, 
she  arose  and  looked  at  him  with  a  face  full  of  won 
der.  Eldredge  said,  "How  do  you  do,  Margaret?" 
but  in  so  rueful  a  way  that  it  sounded  more  as  if  he 
had  begged  her  not  to  look  at  his  eye.  She  laughed 
a  little  at  his  woebegone  expression,  and  then  ex 
claimed  :  "  Is  n't  it  dreadful !  Is  it  very  serious  ?  I 
saw  when  you  were  struck,  but  I  didn't  imagine  you 
could  be  hurt.  Come  here,  please;  you  must  sit 
upon  this  sofa  and  be  my  patient.  I  know  lots  of 
things  about  surgery,  and  maybe  I  can  tell  if  it 's 
dangerous. " 

"No,"  said  Jack,  firmly  but  with  some  humour, 
"I'd  rather  lose  the  eye  than  have  you  look  at  it. 
Besides,  it  does  n't  hurt  any  longer.  Perhaps  it 's 
out!  Unfortunately  I  can't  see  whether  it  is  or 
not."  He  seated  himself  beside  her  upon  the  sofa, 
taking  care  to  hide  the  bandage  as  much  as  possible. 

183 


BOYS   AND   MEN 

Margaret  took  off  her  hat,  and  Jack  held  it  while  she 
smoothed  her  hair,  which  was  as  comely  in  disorder 
as  when  done  up  in  the  finest  Grecian  knot. 

"Jack,"  she  said,  "will  you  please  lay  my  hat  upon 
a  chair?"  He  obeyed  and  seated  himself  again  upon 
the  sofa. 

"I  was  afraid,"  continued  Margaret,  "I  was  afraid 
the  boy  wouldn't  find  you." 

"He  did, "said  Jack. 

"Yes,  I  see  he  did,"  she  answered,  with  a  little 
smile  which  rather  disconcerted  Eldredge.  "But 
now  that  you  're  here  you  must  n't  look  so  rueful." 

"I  've  never  been  happier,"  he  ventured. 

"Are  you?"  she  said,  with  a  shade  less  irony  in 
her  tone.  "Then  we  must  be  even  more  different 
than  I  had  thought,  and  I  must  be  very  vain. 
Mercy ! "  she  exclaimed,  "  how  funny  it  would 
seem!  "  As  she  spoke,  Margaret  whipped  a  big  blue 
handkerchief  out  of  her  muff  and  bound  it  dexterously 
over  her  yellow  hair,  leaving  one  eye  exposed.  Jack 
burst  out  laughing,  but  she  looked  so  wonderfully 
lovely  that  he  felt  like  throwing  his  arms  about  her. 
She  had  risen  from  her  place  on  the  sofa  and  thrown 
herself  again  into  a  chair  before  the  fire.  Eldredge 
went  and  leaned  his  elbow  upon  the  mantel,  where 
she  could  scarcely  see  him  for  the  growing  darkness 
of  the  short  winter  day ;  but  the  flickering  lights  and 
shadows  played  upon  her  face,  brightening  her  cheeks 
to  a  brilliant  red,  while  streaks  of  her  hair  were  like 
fire  and  gold. 

They  remained  silent  for  a  while,  —  Jack  with  all 
his  attention  bent  upon  her,  and  she  with  her  hands 

184 


AFTER  THE  BATTLE 

folded  upon  her  lap  and  her  eyes  intent  upon  the 
fascination  of  the  fire  as  it  cracked  and  leaped  upward 
in  white  tongues  of  flame. 

"I  haven't  told  you,"  she  said,  "that  I  thought 
you  played  beautifully." 

"Oh,  it  was  nothing,"  answered  Jack.  "I 
couldn't  have  done  anything  without  the  other 
fellows." 

"I  had  always  supposed,"  said  Margaret,  "that  it 
took  more  than  one  man  to  play  the  game."  On 
the  lips  of  another  —  one  for  whom  he  cared  nothing 
—  the  words  might  easily  have  seemed  a  transgres 
sion,  but  not  on  those  of  Margaret  Glenn. 

"And  now  that  the  battle  is  won,"  she  went  on, 
"  I  fancy  they  have  all  returned  (is  it  so  ?),  and  that 
you  are  the  only  one  who  has  stayed  here." 

"  Yes,"  said  Jack,  "the  team  and  coaches  went  back 
to  New  Haven  immediately  after  the  game.  There 
is  to  be  a  banquet  this  evening.  Afterwards  the 
Eleven  —  I  mean  the  Ten  —  will  elect  a  captain." 

"And  you  did  not  go!  " 

"No,"  he  replied,  "I  couldn't.  Besides,  Daisy, 
when  I  got  your  note  I  didn't  want  to." 

"Oh,  Jack,"  she  exclaimed,  "you  are  very  nice  to 
say  that!  But  I  didn't  know  there  was  to  be  a 
banquet,  and  if  I  had,  I  would  n't  have  had  you  miss 
it  on  my  account  for  all  the  world!  And  mightn't 
it  make  some  difference  about  the  captaincy?" 

"Hardly,"  said  Eldredge,  "unless  I  had  voted  for 
myself.  They  '11  elect  Tarbell  when  it 's  time.  He  's 
much  the  best  man." 

"  Yes,  he  certainly  would  make  a  fine  captain,"  said 
185 


BOYS   AND    MEN 

Margaret,  naively.  "But  I  feel  as  if  I  had  done 
wrong  to  keep  you!  Maybe  it's  not  too  late  to  go 
even  now.  What  time  is  it? " 

"I  don't  know,"  he  answered. 

"  Oh,  but  you  have  a  watch !     Won't  you  tell  me  ?  " 

He  knelt  down  before  the  fireplace,  and  they  looked 
at  the  watch  together. 

"  You  see,  Daisy,  it  is  somewhere  between  twelve 
and  twelve." 

"Yes,"  she  answered,  "I  observe  that  it  is,  and 
I  'm  beginning  to  be  quite  hungry."  As  she  spoke, 
there  was  a  noise  at  the  outer  door,  and  Eldredge, 
rising,  stood,  with  one  hand  thrust  confidently  into 
his  pocket,  before  the  fire. 

Joseph  Glenn  entered,  and  with  him  a  jovial  elderly 
gentleman,  who,  to  Jack's  astonishment,  kissed  Mar 
garet  on  the  cheek. 

"Jack,"  said  Glenn,  with  small  formality,  "my 
uncle  Bob." 

"  Oh,  Joe !  "  cried  Margaret,  "  what  an  absurd 
introduction !  " 

"I  beg  your  pardon,  Daisy,"  said  her  brother,  with 
a  courtesy  none  the  less  real  for  a  touch  of  mockery ; 
"Mr.  Eldredge,  — my  uncle,  Mr.  Glenn." 

The  old  gentleman  appreciated  the  little  pleasantry 
and  laughed  comfortably,  while  Margaret  whispered 
to  Jack,  "Mr.  Eldredge,  isn't  it  strange  that  you 
never  thought  to  ask  me  where  you  were  ?  "  and  then 
she  added,  "My  uncle  is  a  little  deaf,  so  if  you  don't 
speak  loudly  he  may  think  you  are  whispering." 

Presently  dinner  was  announced,  and  they  went 
into  the  dining-room,  Mr.  Glenn  with  his  niece,  while 

186 


AFTER  THE   BATTLE 

Glenn  and  Eldredge  followed.  Jack  hazarded  a 
guess  that  the  uncle  must  be  either  an  old  bachelor 
or  a  widower,  but  he  hadn't  the  temerity  to  risk  any 
inquiries.  His  ignorance  was  due  to  the  fact  that  his 
room-mate  had  never  told  him  anything  about  the 
family  of  the  Glenns,  and  though  he  had  often  talked 
to  Joseph  of  his  own  father  and  mother,  he  knew 
little  or  nothing  of  the  Glenns  save  what  he  had  been 
able  to  surmise  or  had  seen.  Nor  did  Jack  know 
nearly  so  much  as  he  imagined  of  either  his  classmate 
or  of  Daisy  Glenn. 

Mrs.  Fortescue  would  have  been  hurt  enough  if 
she  could  have  seen  where  her  dinner  was  being  eaten, 
especially  if  she  could  have  listened  from  behind  a 
curtain,  waiting  anxiously  for  the  sound  of  her  own 
name.  But  she  was  never  once  mentioned ;  for  Mr. 
Glenn  was,  like  enough,  quite  ignorant  of  her  exist 
ence,  and  she  had  slipped  completely  off  Margaret's 
conscience,  while  to  the  young  men  she  was  barely 
more  than  a  passing  episode.  After  all,  it  was  no 
great  offence,  under  the  circumstances. 

The  little  company  chatted  happily  over  Mr. 
Glenn's  wine,  the  old  gentleman  growing  merrier 
every  moment.  He  flattered  Jack  in  a  hundred  little 
ways,  alluding  with  great  reverence  to  various  heroes, 
jumbling  them  without  much  regard  to  their  sort  of 
heroism,  setting  them  all  on  one  pedestal,  from  which 
his  wit  could  have  toppled  every  one  with  equal 
grace.  Joe  was  hilarious.  He  had  won  great  sums 
of  money  with  which  he  offered  to  buy  for  his  sister 
whatever  she  might  desire.  Jack  had  been  brought 
up  in  a  different  way,  yet  he  was  as  gay  as  the  rest, 

187 


BOYS  AND   MEN 

despite  his  forlorn  appearance  and  occasional  inability 
to  make  a  proper  retort  till  some  one  else  had  stolen 
it  from  him.  But  Daisy  was  the  liveliest  of  all. 
Her  wit  flowed  unceasingly,  playing  upon  Jack,  and 
sparkling  with  an  inexhaustible  and  sometimes  too 
caustic  irony.  She  was  so  radiant  with  the  excite 
ment  of  her  own  spirits  that  her  uncle  was  quite 
carried  away  by  her  eloquence.  He  alternately  com 
plimented  and  teased  her,  while  she  parried  his  thrusts 
with  fascinating  tact  and  grace.  Jack  had  never 
known  himself  quite  as  he  then  was.  He  would  have 
shone  in  any  other  company.  Yet,  after  all  is  said 
in  praise  of  wit,  his  simplicity  and  his  kindly  lovable 
manner  had  their  own  charm,  which  is  well  worth  all 
the  sprightliness  under  the  sun. 

The  dinner  over,  Joseph  hurried  away  to  keep  his 
engagement,  leaving  Jack  with  his  sister  and  Mr. 
Robert  Glenn.  The  three  sat  before  the  fire,  and 
Jack  smoked  the  first  cigar  he  had  touched  for 
months.  They  chatted,  and  gradually  Mr.  Glenn 
grew  more  silent.  Then  he  began  to  nod  and  softly 
fell  asleep. 


188 


XXY 

THE   PARTING  OF   THE  WAYS 

IN  the  weeks  that  followed  the  incidents  just  nar 
rated,  Jack's  fame  waxed  amazingly.  Invita 
tions  poured  upon  him  from  every  hand.  He  was  the 
guest  of  honour  at  dinners  innumerable.  Fair  young 
women  by  the  score  basked  in  his  presence,  and  con 
fided  to  one  another  what  a  fascinating  man  Mr. 
Eldredge  was,  —  how  very  handsome  and  how  witty. 
He  was  called  upon  for  speeches  at  banquets  and  was 
requested  to  address  small  boys  at  church  missions, 
in  the  belief  that  his  shining  example  would  inspire 
them  to  lead  noble  lives.  All  these  attentions  were 
flattering  enough,  but  they  kept  the  poor  fellow  in  a 
continuous  anxiety,  so  that  he  breathed  easier  when 
the  mid-year  examinations  were  over,  and  he  could 
turn  homeward,  leaving  all  the  cares  of  glory  behind 
him. 

TarbelFs  little  property  in  the  West  had  suffered 
so  from  the  hard  times  that  he  had  almost  decided 
on  going  there  to  look  after  it;  but  Jack  scouted  the 
idea,  and  succeeded  after  some  argument  in  persuad 
ing  his  friend  that  he  had  better  pass  his  Christmas 
at  The  Oaks.  There  must  have  been  collusion  in  this, 
for  Tarbell  got  a  pretty  note  from  Mrs.  Eldredge, 
saying  in  a  tactful  way  that  she  thought  of  him  as  a 
son,  and  that  Mr.  Eldredge  often  said  how  much  he 

189 


BOYS   AND   MEN 

looked  forward  to  having  Tarbell's  company.  Tar- 
bell  was  deeply  touched  by  the  kindness  of  her  note, 
for  his  own  parents  were  dead,  and  he  had  never  been 
so  happy  as  in  the  three  months  which  he  had  passed 
at  the  home  of  the  Eldredges.  So  he  left  his  small 
capital  to  the  mercies  of  the  hard  times  and  his  thrift 
less  debtors,  and  went  to  spend  his  holiday  at  The 
Oaks. 

As  they  were  driven  to  the  door,  Jack  clapped 
Tarbell  on  the  knee  enthusiastically.  "Tarb,  old 
man,"  said  he,  "aren't  you  glad  to  be  home?  By 
Jove,  I  am !  and  it  makes  me  gloat  to  think  of  sleep 
ing  in  a  bed  that  is  n't  like  the  skin  of  a  rhinoceros. 
What  an  orang-outang  Andrew  is,  anyhow!  Well, 
here  we  are.  All  out!  " 

The  carriage  had  hardly  stopped  when  Jack  was  on 
the  piazza  to  greet  his  mother.  "Jack,  my  boy," 
she  exclaimed,  "  and  Mr.  Tarbell !  It  is  so  good  to 
see  you ! " 

As  they  passed  into  the  house,  she  turned  with  a 
smile  for  Tarbell,  saying,  "  Both  of  you  are  my  boys 
now." 

"I  wonder,  Mrs.  Eldredge,"  responded  Tarbell, 
gravely,  "  whether  you  would  have  suspected  a  couple 
of  years  ago  that  you  might  adopt  a  cowboy." 

"Ex-mayor  and  deputy  sheriff,"  said  Jack;  "put 
it  all  in,  Tarb." 

"So  much  the  better,"  said  Mrs.  Eldredge;  "Jack 
needs  a  good  deal  to  keep  him  in  order.  If  we  don't 
take  very  good  care,  I  fear  he  will  some  day  be  brought 
home  in  pieces,  and  I  shall  be  heart-broken." 

"No,  my  dear  little  mutter,"  he  exclaimed,  "no- 
190 


THE   PARTING  OF  THE   WAYS 

body  shall  ever  whack  me  again;  and  if  he  does,  I 
tell  you  what  I  '11  do;  I  '11  kick  him  in  the  head  until 
he  's  dead,  and  I  '11  knock  out  his  left  eye,  too! 
Come,  Tarb,"  he  went  on,  "get  your  pipe  on  fire  and 
we  '11  go  out  and  have  a  look  at  the  horses." 

As  the  two  men  entered  the  barn,  they  were  greeted 
by  a  chorus  of  barks,  and  four  dogs  came  rushing 
upon  them.  A  great  St.  Bernard  leaped  at  Jack, 
and  resting  his  big  paws  on  the  boy's  shoulders, 
kissed  him  roughly  on  the  nose,  while  the  little  dogs 
twisted  their  bodies,  wagging  their  stubby  tails  in  a 
fury  of  pure  joy,  and  raced  about  yelling  as  if  they 
had  gone  quite  mad.  A  bright-eyed  fox  terrier  got 
hold  of  a  piece  of  burlap,  and  flew  about  the  stable 
shaking  the  thing  and  growling  furiously. 

"Ho,  Timmy,  you  little  scamp,"  cried  Jack,  "I  've 
got  you!  "  and  he  chased  the  little  dog  up  and  down 
till  Timmy  got  tangled  in  the  burlap  and  went  head 
over  heels  onto  a  bucket  full  of  water.  Jack  grabbed 
the  terrier  and  held  him  high  above  his  head,  while 
the  others  stood  around,  violently  wagging  their  tails 
and  barking  excitedly. 

"Oh,  I've  got  you  now,  little  doggibus!"  he  ex 
claimed.  "You  would  try  to  play  tricks  on  Uncle 
Jack.  Don't  you  know  you  must  n't  make  such  a 
fuss  when  we've  got  visitors  around?  Now,  Mr. 
Timothy,  I  '11  put  you  on  the  floor,  and  you  must  be 
a  good  doggy  and  not  wriggle  yourself  all  out  of 
shape  just  because  you  're  glad  to  have  me  back!  " 

Tarbell  had  laid  hold  of  a  stick  and  was  tussling 
with  the  St.  Bernard,  who  was  pulling  hard  in  one 
direction  while  the  big  man  hauled  him  the  other 

191 


BOYS  AND   MEN 

way.  The  horses  were  all  at  their  gratings,  sniffing 
with  their  ears  pointed  forward,  and  uttering  little 
rumbling  whinnies.  Jack  patted  them  all,  saying 
something  to  each  one  as  if  they  could  understand 
what  he  meant.  As  he  fondled  the  other  horses,  a 
small  bay  poked  his  nose  through  the  iron  bars  of  his 
box-stall,  and  looked  at  Jack  wistfully.  His  velvety 
upper  lip  quivered,  and  he  broke  into  a  friendly 
neigh. 

"Don't  get  impatient,  Toby,"  said  Jack.     "I  can't 
say  ' How  d'  ye  do? '  to  all  at  once."    He  threw  open 
the  door  of  the  stall  and  went  in.     Toby  began  to 
nuzzle  him  affectionately;  and  he,  burying  one  hand 
in  the  horse's  mane,  stroked  the  silken  nose.     "I  'm 
very,  very   sorry,   Toby,  but  I  haven't   any   sugar. 
You  shall  have  some,  Toby  horse ;  and  to-morrow,  if 
it 's  not  too  cold,  we  '11  go  off  for  a  ride  together,  and 
Tarb  shall  ride  old  Abe,  who  's  grinning  at  us  from 
the  next  stall."     Toby  smelt  about  Jack's  pockets, 
but  finding  nothing  edible,  rested  his  nose  contentedly 
on  the  boy's   shoulder.     Jack  scratched  the  pony's 
ear  and  whispered  softly,   "Some  day,   Toby,   when 
you  're  a  couple  of  years  older  than  you  are  now,  and 
have  stopped  shying  at  little  scraps  of  paper,  I  shall 
bring  her  here,  and  you  must  be  very  careful  when 
she  sits  on  your  back  to  do  nothing  foolish,  because, 
if  you  did,  I  'd  have  to  cut  off  your  supply  of  sugar, 
and  that  would  be  very  sad."     He  put  his  arms  about 
the  pony's  sleek  neck  and  patted  him  as  affectionately 
as  if  the  animal  had  been  a  child.     Then  he  shut  the 
door  gently  on  Toby's  nose,  and  the  two  men  went 
out  of  the  barn. 

192 


THE  PARTING  OF  THE   WAYS 

Till  nightfall  they  wandered  over  the  great  place. 
They  talked  over  their  college  life  and  all  the  friends 
they  had  there.  Eldredge  was  in  one  of  his  extrava 
gant  moods,  but  while  he  rambled  on,  mentioning 
every  subject  as  if  it  had  some  inherent  connection 
with  himself,  saying  what  he  had  done  and  what  he 
was  going  to  do,  Tarbell  kept  his  own  counsel. 
Having  lived  eight  years  more  than  Jack,  and  very 
rough  years  too,  —  years  full  of  struggles,  hardships, 
and  disappointments,  —  he  refrained  from  that  men 
tal  plunging  which  was  so  easy  to  his  companion. 
Yet,  however  much  Jack  raved  about  other  matters, 
there  was  one  which  he  guarded  in  sacred  silence. 

On  entering  the  house,  they  found  Mr.  Eldredge, 
who  had  just  returned  from  business,  looking  rather 
careworn  in  spite  of  his  vigorous  health.  He  wel 
comed  the  young  men  warmly. 

"I  understand,  Tarbell,"  said  he,  "that  you've 
been  adopted  into  the  family.  Well,  there  's  lots  of 
room  here,  and  you  shall  have  a  quarter  of  it  when 
ever  you  choose  to  come.  Are  we  going  to  have  you 
on  the  railroad  next  summer?" 

"Yes,  sir,"  replied  Tarbell;  "I'd  like  to  try  it 
again." 

"All  right;  you  shall  have  your  old  place  as  soon 
as  you  care  to  take  it.  When  you  and  Jack  have 
finished  college,  some  other  business  may  please  you 
better;  but  you  shall  have  the  opening  if  you  want  it." 

For  three  weeks  Tarbell  and  Jack  took  life  in  the 
freest  possible  way.  They  played  billiards,  smoked, 
rode,  and  called  on  their  neighbours.  This  lazy  exist 
ence  at  an  end,  they  returned  to  college.  Both  were 
13  193 


BOYS  AND   MEN 

on  the  committee  whose  task  it  was  to  make  ready 
the  Junior  Promenade,  and  they  went  to  work  hero 
ically.  Jack  was  selected,  on  account  of  his  affable 
manner  and  prestige  as  an  athlete,  to  collect  sub 
scriptions.  He  must  have  climbed  miles  of  stairs  on 
his  thankless  mission,  and  it  is  possible  that  he  some 
times  had  an  uneasy  conscience  because  of  all  the 
cajolery  he  had  to  practise  in  order  to  sell  men  several 
tickets  more  than  they  could  use,  and  to  the  fresh 
men  tickets  which  they  could  not  use  at  all.  During 
the  most  of  January  Eldredge  spent  an  hour  a  day  on 
his  studies,  possibly  less.  His  "stand"  went  down 
like  mercury  in  a  freeze,  but  he  had  thrown  himself 
heart  and  soul  into  the  task,  and  was  determined  that, 
at  least  so  far  as  in  him  lay,  the  great  dance  should 
be  the  finest  that  had  ever  been  given.  One  of  his 
colleagues  on  the  committee  inquired  one  day  what 
girl  he  was  going  to  bring.  "None,"  he  answered, 
and  that  was  quite  true ;  for  the  only  one  whom  he 
would  have  thought  of  asking  had  been  invited  some 
months  before.  Tarbell  might  have  bidden  some 
one;  but  the  hundred  dollars  required  for  carriages, 
flowers,  etc.,  would  have  been  too  heavy  a  drain.  He 
therefore  had  also  decided  to  go  as  a  "stag,"  and  that 
was  high  discretion.  It  was  not  difficult  for  two 
such  men  to  fill  their  cards  with  the  greatest  belles. 
By  special  dispensation,  Eldredge  had  Margaret's 
name  four  times  upon  his  list;  Tarbell  was  privileged 
to  dance  with  her  twice.  If  Margaret's  card  had 
been  long  enough,  she  might  have  had  upon  it  every 
great  light  in  the  University,  from  the  most  renowned 
athlete  down  to  those  whose  fame  was  of  the  humble 

194 


THE  PARTING  OF  THE   WAYS 

sort  that  comes  from  being  clever  at  books  or  know 
ing  how  to  wield  a  pen.  But  there  were  hardly  more 
than  a  score  of  dances  in  all;  therefore  a  hundred 
celebrities  who  must  be  disappointed. 

For  three  weeks  both  Jack  and  Tarbell  toiled  tre 
mendously.  The  work  was  by  no  means  agreeable, 
but  they  were  at  it  day  and  night  with  a  dauntless 
zeal.  Finally  every  preparation  had  been  made  and 
the  guests  began  to  arrive.  Margaret  came  with  a 
great  trunk  full  of  fine  dresses,  and  was  settled  at 
Mrs.  Fortescue's,  where  she  held  court.  The  hostess 
was  thus  enabled  to  share  the  effulgence  of  her  guest, 
and  was  a  sort  of  lady-in-waiting,  though  she  did  not 
know  it. 

How  happy  Jack  was  as  he  escorted  Margaret 
Glenn  from  tea  to  tea!  How  he  revelled  each 
moment  he  could  spend  in  her  company!  How  he 
delighted  in  the  very  urchins  who  stared  at  her  in 
the  street  as  she  swept  by,  stately  as  a  princess  and 
calm  as  a  nun ! 

On  the  afternoon  of  the  last  day  Glenn  and 
Eldredge  gave  a  most  sumptuous  reception  at  their 
rooms  in  Farnam  College.  They  had  borrowed  every 
handsome  rug  or  bit  of  old  tapestry  they  could  lay 
hands  on.  Some  fine  palms  spread  their  ornamental 
fronds  in  the  corners  of  the  largest  room,  and  on  the 
centre -table  was  a  great  bowl  full  of  punch.  At 
Jack's  suggestion,  one  bed  had  been  removed,  and 
four  or  five  Hungarians  installed  in  its  place  to  play 
their  bewitching  music.  Just  outside  the  door  stood 
the  sable  Andrew,  dressed  like  a  flunky,  his  duty 
being  to  announce  the  guests ;  a  feat  which  he  per- 

195 


BOYS  AND   MEN 

formed  to  a  charm,  though  his  voice  was  so  thick  that 
it  would  have  been  impossible  to  tell  what  he  said 
had  not  the  smallness  of  the  place  made  that  per 
fectly  evident.  This  masterpiece  of  humour  was  due 
to  James,  and  very  dearly  Jack  had  to  pay  for  it. 

Miss  Merivale  came  in  a  fine  Parisian  gown,  which 
must  have  roused  great  envy,  for  it  was  a  marvellous 
affair  and  set  off  her  beauty  wonderfully.  On  the 
day  following  it  was  described  in  the  papers  with  an 
estimate  of  the  yards  of  silk  it  contained,  and  of  the 
price  which  it  had  probably  cost  in  the  Rue  de  la 
Paix.  And  there  were  other  comely  countenances, 
and  other  resplendent  costumes  which  had  no  doubt 
cost  thousands  of  poor  worms  many  a  month  of  toil. 

But  Margaret  was  the  fairest  of  all.  There  was 
a  sparkle  in  her  eyes,  a  prudence  in  her  wit,  an 
impartiality  in  her  manner  which  caused  every  one  to 
say  that  no  tea  like  this  had  ever  been  given. 

When  it  was  over,  Margaret  was  escorted  home  by 
Tarbell,  while  Glenn  and  Jack  set  about  restoring 
their  apartment  to  its  former  usefulness  and  sim 
plicity.  The  bed  took  the  place  of  the  musicians ;  the 
palms  were  carried  off  by  the  florist  to  do  duty  at 
the  Promenade;  the  punch  was  emptied  out  lest 
Andrew  should  be  led  into  temptation.  Although 
Andrew  was  a  deacon  in  his  church,  he  had  been 
known  to  be  tipsy.  It  was  well  after  seven  when  the 
last  thing  had  been  put  to  rights,  and  Jack  must  be 
at  his  post  in  little  more  than  an  hour. 

"Now,  Andrew,"  said  he,  "you  've  done  your  work 
very  well.  I  have  n't  been  so  well  satisfied  with  you 
for  a  long  time.  You  may  keep  the  white  gloves  and 

196 


THE   PARTING   OF   THE   WAYS 

the  rest  of  my  things,  but  there  is  still  a  little  work 
to  do." 

"If  it  don't  make  no  diff  rence  I  '11  go  off  and  get 
somethin'  to  eat;  I  ain't  had  a  moufful  sence  twelve 
o'clock." 

"No,"  repeated  Jack,  casting  upon  Andrew  a  look 
which  caused  the  latter  some  misgivings,  "  I  'm  going 
to  be  busy,  and  you  must  stay  here  till  I  come  back, 
and  get  my  clothes  ready  for  this  evening." 

"  Wich  close  you  mean  ?  De  one  dat  's  bobbed  off 
kinder  like  a  waiter's  jacket,  or  dis  yere  swallow 
tail?" 

"The  swallow  tail,  of  course;  the  other  is  being 
cleaned.  You  took  it  to  the  tailor  yourself." 

"  Wot  you  spect  me  to  do  wid  it?  " 

"Smooth  it  out,  and  be  sure  your  hands  are  clean 
when  you  put  the  buttons  into  my  shirt."  At  this 
Andrew  made  so  doleful  a  face  that  his  employer 
fished  out  a  two-dollar  bill  and  handed  it  to  him, 
hoping  that  a  bribe  added  to  his  threats  might  work 
persuasion. 

"Do  you  understand?"  said  Jack,  imperiously. 

"Yessir,"  replied  the  dusky  maitre  Jacques,  with 
something  like  a  growl  (which  was,  like  enough, 
appetite  again  getting  hold  of  him).  "Do  you  want 
me  to  lay  out  you'  close,  Mr.  Glenn?"  inquired 
Andrew,  the  auri  sacra  fames  for  a  moment  over 
coming  his  other  hunger. 

"No,  thank  you;  I  '11  dress  now.  Jack,  go  ahead 
to  dinner.  This  won't  take  me  fifteen  minutes." 

Eldredge  went  off  in  great  haste,  and  Andrew 
began  reluctantly  to  look  for  the  clothes.  He  loi- 

197 


BOYS  AND   MEN 

tered  so  over  his  task  that  he  had  scarcely  found  them 
when  Glenn  left  the  room.  Andrew  brushed  the 
garments  and  laid  them  lazily  upon  the  bed,  then 
rummaged  for  a  clean  shirt,  and  having  seated  him 
self  comfortably  in  an  arm-chair,  began  with  clumsy 
fingers  to  fix  two  gold  studs  into  the  spotless  bosom, 
grumbling  over  his  work  and  ever  and  anon  muttering 
a  damn.  At  last  the  studs  were  inserted,  but  the 
bosom  was  rumpled  and  smirched  with  another  black 
than  that  of  Andrew's  skin.  He  started  to  lay  the 
garment  just  as  it  was  upon  the  bed,  when  discretion 
got  the  better  of  him,  and  he  washed  his  hands. 
After  another  ten  minutes  of  fumbling  he  had  suc 
ceeded  in  putting  the  buttons  into  a  fresh  shirt.  For 
an  instant  the  negro  stood  uncertain,  scratching  his 
head  and  counting  with  a  stubby  finger  the  figures  on 
the  face  of  his  watch;  then  quietly  left  the  room, 
shutting  the  door  behind  him,  but  neglecting  to  spring 
the  latch. 

As  he  disappeared  down  the  Campus,  a  disrep 
utable  creature,  who  had  been  lurking  in  the  shadows, 
stole  into  the  entry,  and  stopping  for  a  moment, 
scanned  his  surroundings  furtively.  Fastened  to  the 
wall  was  a  tablet  containing  the  numbers  of  rooms 
and  names  of  all  who  dwelt  in  that  portion  of  the 
building.  One  glance  satisfied  his  curiosity,  and 
without  further  hesitation  he  climbed  the  three 
flights  of  stairs,  and  having  listened  a  moment,  opened 
the  door  which  Andrew  had  failed  to  lock.  Rapping 
softly,  he  said,  "Excuse  me;  is  there  any  one  here 
would  like  to  help  an  old  soldier?"  Then,  a  little 
louder:  "I've  had  hard  luck.  One  of  me  hands  is 

198 


THE   PARTING   OF  THE  WAYS 

hurt  an'  I  can't  get  no  work.  Wouldn't  one  of  you 
gentlemen  like  to  buy  some  pencils  ?  " 

Getting  no  answer  to  this  tentative  inquiry,  the 
fellow  entered  and  speedily  went  to  work.  With 
the  directness  of  a  messenger  he  crossed  the  study 
and  entered  one  of  the  bedrooms.  Upon  the  bed  lay 
a  dress  suit,  and  beside  it  a  shirt  with  two  gold  studs. 
Dexterously  extracting  the  studs,  he  tucked  them  into 
his  vest  pocket,  and  folding  the  dress  suit  into  a  com 
pact  bundle,  wrapped  it  in  a  piece  of  brown  paper. 
The  sound  of  a  voice  caused  him  to  start,  but  it 
was  only  some  one  passing  in  the  street  below.  He 
lingered  just  long  enough  to  swallow  a  couple  of 
sandwiches,  then  left  the  room,  closing  the  door 
noiselessly. 

Scarcely  had  he  issued  from  the  lighted  entry  to 
the  dark  Quadrangle  when  he  was  accosted  by  a 
person  who  had  been  waiting  in  the  shadow  of  the 
building. 

"Did  you  get  it?"  inquired  the  latter,  nervously. 

"Dead  easy,"  responded  the  man.  "Now  what 
will  I  do  widit?" 

"  I  want  you  to  get  it  back  somehow  by  to-morrow 
night,"  returned  the  second  person,  still  more  ner 
vously.  "  Here  's  your  ten  dollars. " 

"  Look  here,  young  fellah,  you  're  going  to  make 
that  a  twenty;  if  you  don't,  I  '11  give  you  away,  an' 
if  it 's  back  here  to-morrow  night  you  've  got  to  fork 
out  twenty  more.  Oh,  of  course  this  ain't  no  steal, 
you  know,  and  you  'd  certainly  be  robbin'  me  if  I 
took  any  less  'n  forty!  " 

"  I  'm  not  going  to  pay  you  forty.  You  agreed  for 
199 


BOYS   AND   MEN 

ten,  and  twenty  is  all  you  're  going  to  get.  You  can 
hide  that  bundle  around  here,  and  to-morrow  morning 
somebody '11  find  it." 

"  Hurry  up  wid  that  money,"  said  the  man,  angrily, 
"or  we  '11  hot'  get  pinched." 

"Will  you  hide  it?"  asked  the  young  man. 

"  Hide  it !  Well,  I  just  guess !  I  '11  put  the  outfit 
where  it  '11  have  a  chanst  to  get  back  fer  sure.  I  can 
write  that  name  you  give  me  on  the  paper." 

Without  further  parley  the  money  was  paid  over 
and  the  scamp  made  off,  holding  the  bundle  under 
his  arm  in  such  a  way  as  not  to  arouse  suspicion, 
while  his  companion  vanished  into  the  darkness. 

Meanwhile  Jack  had  bolted  his  dinner  and  was 
giving  final  orders  to  his  satellites  at  the  Armory.  In 
just  forty  minutes  the  ball  would  begin.  He  jumped 
into  a  carriage  and  was  driven  in  great  haste  to  the 
Campus. 

"You  needn't  wait,"  he  cried  to  the  driver;  "I  '11 
walk." 

Eldredge  entered  his  room  and  looked  about  him. 
"I  wonder,"  he  muttered,  "where  that  darky  has 
stowed  himself.  Andrew!  "  Every  jet  was  lighted, 
but  there  was  no  answer.  "Andrew!"  He  stepped 
into  his  bedroom  and  saw  the  rumpled  shirt  lying 
where  it  had  fallen.  He  picked  it  up  and  gazed  at 
the  bed,  aghast.  A  partial  realization  of  what  had 
happened  came  upon  him  in  a  flash,  and  he  rushed 
downstairs,  narrowly  missing  a  collision  with  the 
delinquent  Andrew,  who  was  ascending  at  a  leisurely 
pace. 

"  Where  have  you  been  ?  "  he  shouted. 
200 


THE   PARTING   OF   THE   WAYS 

"I  jes'  stepped  out  for  a  miunte.  I  didn't 
s'pose  —  " 

"You  didn't  suppose,  you  idiot!  What  business 
have  you  got  s'posin'  anything?  You  failed  to  do 
what  I  told  you  to,  and  now  somebody  has  sneaked 
in  and  robbed  me." 

"Who  do  you  reckon  it  could  'a'  ben?"  faltered 
Andrew,  still  sleepy  with  too  much  food. 

Jack  cast  one  wrathful  glance  upon  the  blinking 
darky  and  rushed  out  of  the  building.  He  ran 
to  the  room  of  a  friend,  and  then  to  another  and 
another.  Only  two  or  three  were  in,  and  they  were 
dressing  for  the  ball.  So  used  was  Jack  to  getting 
what  he  desired  that  it  did  not  even  occur  to  him  to 
stop  and  weigh  the  plight  he  was  in.  In  a  great 
fury  he  increased  his  pace,  running  desperately  about 
in  the  hope  of  finding  some  one  to  help  him.  Sud 
denly  he  saw  a  light  brighten  in  Thornclyke's  win 
dow.  He  stopped  and  cried,  "  Fitz !  Oh,  Fitz !  " 

Thorndyke  thrust  his  head  out.  "Hello,  Jack!" 
he  shouted.  "  What 's  the  trouble  ?  " 

"Everything,  Fitz!  That  imbecile  of  an  Andrew 
left  my  door  open,  and  some  scoundrel  has  sneaked 
in  and  gone  off  with  my  dress  suit.  By  Gad !  if  I 
could  lay  hands  on  him,  I  'd  choke  it  out  of  him ! 
Can't  you  help  me  ?  " 

"Stolen!"  he  ejaculated.  "You  don't  say  so! 
Let  me  see.  Could  you  wear  my  room-mate's?  " 

"How,  in  thunder!  "  cried  Eldredge.  "He  's  two- 
thirds  my  size.  Good-night,  Fitz."  With  one 
longing  look  for  a  carriage,  he  set  out  on  a  dead  run 
across  the  Green.  In  half  an  hour  the  dancing  would 

201 


BOYS  AND   MEN 

begin,  and  the  first  name  on  his  list  was  that  of  Mar 
garet  Glenn.  What  would  she  think  if  he  failed  to 
be  there?  The  absurdity  and  helplessness  of  his 
predicament  infuriated  him,  but  there  was  still  a 
chance,  and  he  kept  on  running  with  a  feverish  haste 
till  he  came  to  a  shop  whither  he  had  once  gone  with 
a  chronically  impecunious  classmate,  who  banked  for 
the  most  part  at  the  pawnbroker's.  The  proprietor 
had  dress  suits,  but  they  were  in  every  case  too  small. 
At  another  place  he  found  one  that  fitted  passably. 
On  examination,  he  discovered  that  moths  had  eaten 
great  patches  out  of  the  coat.  The  Hebrew  in  charge 
declared  "  nobody  would  ef er  dake  de  slidest  nodice 
of  such  a  ting,"  but  Jack  was  not  persuaded.  Again 
he  set  out  running,  and  came  soon  to  the  last  place 
of  this  kind  he  knew  of.  It  was  the  lair  of  Solomon 
Solomons,  Money  Lender  and  Dealer  in  Misfit  and 
Cast-off  Clothing. 

"Solomon,"  he  cried,  "find  me  a  suit,  a  dress  suit, 
quick!  I  '11  give  you  fifty  dollars  if  you  fit  me." 

"Veil,  veil,"  said  the  Jew,  "have  a  chair  und  I  '11 
see  what  I  can  do  for  you.  What  kind  of  a  suit 
would  you  want?" 

"Oh,  anything!  No,  a  dress  suit.  Are  any  of 
the  ready-made  places  open?" 

"  Of  course  dey  ain't,"  grunted  the  Jew,  turning  his 
curved  beak  upon  the  boy  and  glaring  at  him  disdain 
fully.  He  went  to  a  great  heap  of  clothes  and  began 
to  lay  them  out,  piece  by  piece,  upon  his  counter. 

"  How  you  gome  to  be  in  such  a  hurry  ?  "  he  asked, 
eying  Jack  suspiciously. 

"  Look  here,  Solomon,"  said  Jack,  advancing  toward 
202 


THE   PARTING   OF  THE   WAYS 

the  Jew,  "you  've  got  just  five  minutes  more.  Some 
body  's  hooked  my  clothes  and  I  've  no  time  for  talk. 
If  you  find  something  decent,  I  '11  give  you  sixty 
dollars;  so  be  lively." 

"Has  somebody  ropt  you?"  asked  the  Jew,  with  a 
show  of  astonishment. 

"  Yes,  and  not  an  hour  ago ;  but  stop  asking  ques 
tions.  You  've  three  minutes  more  to  earn  that 
money.  I  can't  wait  a  second  longer." 

He  flung  himself  at  the  smaller  pile  and  began  to 
search  it  furiously.  Meanwhile  Solomon  laid  the 
other  heap  upon  the  floor,  keeping  his  back  toward 
Eldredge.  Ever  so  deftly  he  removed  from  the  mass 
of  clothing  a  dress  suit  which  he  slipped  into  some 
recess  beneath  the  counter. 

"Well,"  said  Jack,  "there  are  two  minutes  left, 
Solomon.  Can  you  find  anything  ?" 

"I  fought  sure  I  had  one,"  answered  the  Jew, 
"but  I  must  have  been  thinkin'  of  someding  else." 
He  rose  from  behind  the  counter  and  fixed  his  moist 
black  eyes  upon  Eldredge.  They  were  as  expression 
less  as  beads.  Jack  looked  at  him  for  a  moment  as  if 
dazed  and  issued  into  the  street. 

After  an  hour  of  fruitless  search  he  wrote  a  few 
words,  saying  that  he  had  met  with  an  accident  and 
begged  therefore  to  be  excused.  He  went  back  to  his 
room  and  threw  himself  into  a  chair,  with  his  face 
between  his  hands.  Had  Jack  been  less  heated  and 
less  desperate,  he  might  have  made  himself  suffi 
ciently  presentable  to  appear  at  the  Promenade.  To 
be  sure,  no  one  had  ever  ventured  to  present  himself 
at  that  showy  assemblage  in  any  save  evening  dress, 

203 


BOYS   AND   MEN 

but  he  was  well  known,  and  in  a  calmer  mood  could 
have  carried  off  the  situation  triumphantly.  Indeed, 
with  a  little  of  Tarbell's  humour  he  might  have  had 
some  amusement  from  his  own  discomfiture.  Lacking 
that  sense,  the  situation  became  a  tragedy.  Such  was 
the  mood  which  had  come  upon  Eldredge.  He  sat 
in  dire  unhappiness,  while  some  one  else  among  the 
many  who  aspired  to  that  honour  was  dancing  with 
Margaret  Glenn,  and  the  ball  was  proceeding  quite 
as  smoothly  as  if  he  had  been  there.  How  gaily  she 
smiled!  How  skilfully  did  she  hold  her  skirts  lest 
they  should  graze  the  floor!  and  how  wondrously 
yellow  was  the  hair  that  fell  in  a  knot  upon  her 
comely  neck!  No  wonder  that  Margaret  without  so 
much  as  a  look  could  have  drawn  a  hundred  vassals 
into  her  train,  and  that  more  than  one  would  have 
given  up  every  name  on  his  list  for  the  privilege  of 
dancing  with  her  only  once ! 

"  I  wonder  who  the  chap  is  that 's  waltzing  with 
Miss  Glenn?"  said  Billy,  as  Margaret  swept  by. 

"She  is  beautiful,  isn't  she?"  responded  Clare. 

"Do  you  think  she  takes  advantage  of  it? " 

"I  am  sure  she  could  if  she  wanted  to." 

"That  there  is  no  logical  reason  for  doubting," 
remarked  Billy,  with  a  shade  of  sarcasm.  "  It 's 
plain  enough  to  me." 

"You  feel  convinced,  then?" 

"I  do." 

"But  sometimes  even  dreadfully  clever  people 
imagine  they  understand  such  things,  and  in  the  end 
it  turns  out  that  they  were  quite  wrong." 

"  Well,  maybe  I  don't  know  too  much  about  it.  but 
204 


THE  PARTING  OF  THE   WAYS 

I  'd  like  to  be  a  priest  and  have  her  come  to  a  little 
seance  at  my  confessional.  I  'd  make  her  own  up,  if 
it  took  all  day.  By  George!  it  would  be  pleasant 
to  see  Miss  Haughty  on  her  knees  for  a  couple  of 
hours!" 

"I  don't  doubt  it  would,"  said  Clare,  "and  I  am 
equally  certain  that  neither  yourself  nor  anybody  else 
could  get  her  to  tell." 

"I  'd  accuse  point  blank  and  follow  that  up  with  a 
cross-examination  which  would  be  simply  impossible 
to  dodge." 

"Billy,  how  long  have  you  known  me?" 

"  Oh,  about  one  short  year.     Why  do  you  ask  ?  " 

"I  was  just  thinking  how  wonderfully  little  you 
know  about  women." 

"Well,  she  's  fairly  good  to  look  at,  —  if  a  fellow 
can't  see  what  is  going  on  inside  of  her,  but  I  don't 
believe  it's  all  soul." 

"  Billy,  you  are  very  unjust,  and  some  day  you  will 
find  it  isn't  wise  to  judge  people  until  they  have 
given  you  a  chance  to  know  them.  Miss  Glenn  is 
lovely,  and  it  is  perfectly  right  that  every  one  should 
admire  her." 

"It's  perfectly  natural." 

"  Billy,  if  you  persist  in  saying  such  things  we  may 
quarrel." 

"Then  I  won't,"  said  Billy.  "Besides,  I'm  in 
clined  to  think  that  I  admire  her  just  like  everybody 
else." 

"Oh,  you  mustn't,"  retorted  Clare;  "I  might  be 
come  jealous."  And  with  that  James  and  Miss  Meri- 
vale  passed  on  in  the  throng  of  dancers  who  were 

205 


BOYS   AND   MEN 

gliding  in  and  out  within  the  wavering  endless  chain 
that  was  slowly  circling  the  hall. 

Hardly  had  the  music  ceased  when  Tarbell  got 
Jack's  message.  He  made  immediately  for  Mar 
garet's  box. 

"I'm  afraid,"  he  said,  "that  something  has  hap 
pened  to  Jack.  Will  you  excuse  me  if  I  am  not  on 
hand  when  my  turn  comes  ?  You  know  I  am  a  very 
poor  dancer." 

"Could  it  be  something  serious?"  she  asked. 
"Tell  me,  Mr.  Tarbell." 

"That  is  what  I  intend  to  find  out,"  he  answered, 
and  left  her  without  another  word. 

Tarbell  found  Jack  stretched  upon  his  bed. 

"Jack,"  he  exclaimed,  "what  has  happened?" 

"Nothing,  Tarb,  except  that  my  cake  has  turned 
to  dough.  If  Andrew  had  n't  been  Andrew,  and  if 
somebody  else  had  n't  been  a  thief,  we  'd  all  be  happy. 
You  see  I  hadn't  anything  to  wear  except  my 
pajamas,  and  they  were  rather  too  gay  even  for  the 
Promenade." 

"Do  you  mean  to  say  that  you  have  been  robbed?" 

"Yes,"  said  Jack,  "I  've  been  robbed  of  a  very  fair 
dress  suit  and  of  a  good  time,  to  which  I  'd  been  look 
ing  forward  for  weeks.  .  .  .  Why  the  dickens  have 
you  troubled  yourself  to  come  here  ?  It 's  kind  of 
you,  Tarb,  old  man,  but  you  can't  do  me  any  good 
and  you  are  missing  somebody's  dance.  Next  year 
I  '11  have  three  dress  suits  and  hire  a  policeman  to 
watch  each  one  of  'em." 

Tarbell  sat  down  on  the  bed  and  laid  his  hand  on 
Jack's  arm. 

206 


THE  PARTING   OF   THE  WAYS 

"Jack,"  he  said,  "I  wish  to  goodness  you  were  in 
my  clothes." 

"I  know  you  do,  Tarb;  but  never  mind.  Every 
dog  has  his  day,  and  I  'm  having  mine.  Go  back 
now,  and  please  tell  Margaret  that  I  'm  sorry,  very 
sorry ;  and  say  that  I  ask  her  to  the  next  Promenade 
and  promise  —  if  she  comes  —  to  be  there.  Will  you 
tell  her?" 

"I'll  not  forget,"  responded  Tarbell;  and  giving 
Jack's  hand  a  hearty  clasp,  he  rose  and  returned  to 
the  ball,  arriving  just  in  time  for  his  dance  with  Miss 
Glenn.  He  told  her  how  Jack  had  been  robbed,  and 
how  he  had  been  charged  to  invite  her  in  Jack's 
behalf. 

"  Was  he  quite  in  earnest, "  she  asked,  "  to  invite 
me  so  far  ahead  ?  " 

"Jack  is  always  in  earnest,"  answered  Tarbell. 

"  But  suppose  I  should  accept  and  then  be  unable 
to  come?" 

"In  that  case,"  said  Tarbell,  "he  would  be  dis 
appointed." 

They  had  emerged  from  the  throng  and  were  near 
the  stand  which  held  the  orchestra. 

"Mr.  Tarbell,"  she  said,  "unless  you  wish  to  con 
tinue,  let  us  sit  down  here.  It 's  hard  not  to  be  frivo 
lous  when  one  is  dancing,  —  I  mean  for  me,  of 
course,  because  you  are  never  frivolous."  Tarbell 
scarcely  knew  what  to  reply  to  an  assertion  so  abrupt 
and  whimsical,  but  obeyed  without  a  word. 

"Do  you  know,"  continued  Margaret,  when  they 
were  seated,  "dancing  seems  to  me  a  very  foolish 
thing.  Ever  since  I  was  a  little  tot  I  've  known  how; 

207 


BOYS  AND   MEN 

but,  for  some  reason  or  other,  I  can  never  get  rid  of 
the  sensation  that  when  I  dance  I  'm  a  sort  of  puppet, 
and  that  every  one  else  is  a  puppet  too,  turning  round 
and  round  as  if  he  were  wound  up  and  had  to  move 
whenever  the  music  plays.  Everything  appears  so 
unreal.  Does  it  strike  you  that  way?" 

"No,"  he  replied,  "I  can't  say  it  does.  I  have 
just  the  contrary  sensation.  I  'm  very  clumsy,  Miss 
Glenn,  and  feel  as  if  I  weighed  a  ton.  It 's  a  wonder 
anybody  has  the  courage  to  trust  herself  to  such  a 
giraffe." 

"Oh,  Mr.  Tarbell,"  cried  Margaret,  "what  a 
comparison!  " 

"  Why  ?     Do  you  think  it 's  unfair  to  the  giraffe  ?  " 

"Very,"  she  replied,  "because  it's  giving  him 
something  which  he  does  n't  deserve.  But  I  'd  rather 
dance  even  with  a  —  a  giraffe  than  some  very  little 
men;  I  always  feel  how  easy  it  would  be  to  lead 
them ;  and  besides,  they  're  not  very  safe.  One  is 
likely  to  be  run  into  by  some  of  those  fellows  who 
dance  as  if  they  were  playing  football.  But  then 
there  are  others  with  whom  I  feel  as  secure  as  if  I 
were  protected  by  —  what  shall  I  say  ?  " 

"  A  giraffe, "  suggested  Tarbell. 

Margaret  spread  out  her  fan  and  looked  at  it 
thoughtfully.  Tarbell  found  himself  studying  her 
profile.  The  wavy  hair  rippled  about  a  forehead  as 
serene  and  comely  as  that  of  some  antique  marble. 
And  how  graciously  uneven  was  the  outline  of  her 
nose !  What  a  fascinating  curve  there  was  to  her  lips, 
and  how  firm  and  admirable  was  her  chin!  The 
former  cow-puncher  and  ex-mayor  of  Eureka,  Arizona, 

208 


THE  PARTING   OF  THE  WAYS 

sat  gazing  at  her  like  one  of  those  enchanted  knights 
we  read  about  in  the  tales  of  chivalry,  who  were 
always  slaying  other  champions  in  bloody  combat  and 
afterwards  getting  into  the  spell  of  some  enchanting 
damsel.  Like  enough,  that  was  why  they  slew  one 
another  in  such  quantities. 

The  enchantress,  raising  her  eyes  from  her  fan  and 
turning  her  face  upon  Tarbell,  said,  without  so  much 
as  a  flutter  of  the  eyelids,  "Mr.  Tarbell,  it  would 
have  been  tragic  indeed  if  the  thief  Lad  stolen  your 
things  as  well  as  Jack's.  Just  imagine  how  sad  / 
should  have  been!  But  poor  Jack!  I  hope  he  's  not 
very  unhappy." 

"He  is, "said  Tarbell,  more  earnestly,  "and  I'm 
sorry  from  the  bottom  of  my  heart.  Jack  is  one  of 
the  dearest  fellows  that  ever  lived.  Everybody  is 
fond  of  him  because  he  's  always  so  ready  to  do  what 
he  can  for  any  one  else." 

"Then  you  and  he  are  fast  friends?" 

"We  are." 

"Yet,"  she  went  on,  "you  haven't  known  him  so 
very  long,  have  you?" 

"No,  scarcely  three  years;  but  it 's  not  a  question 
of  time.  It 's  the  man,  Miss  Glenn.  Jack  is  so  good 
a  fellow  that  you  have  to  like  him,  faults  and  all. 
As  they  say  down  in  our  country,  he  and  I  are 
pardners." 

"That 's  a  pretty  expression,"  said  Margaret. 

"It  isn't  a  bad  one,"  he  answered.     Tarbell  had 

become  so  absorbed  in  his  talk  of  Jack  that  he  failed 

to  notice  how  the  music  was  making  its  final  flourish. 

Margaret  glanced  at  her  card  indifferently  and  laid  it 

14  209 


BOYS   AND   MEN 

upon  her  fan.  They  were  almost  hidden  from  the 
other  dancers.  The  musicians  ceased  for  a  moment. 
Then  they  began  playing  one  of  those  crooning,  sen 
suous  melodies  which  are  so  well  fitted  to  the  Ameri 
can  waltz.  But  Tarbell  did  not  hear  it.  Nor  did  he 
even  turn  his  head  to  catch  a  glimpse  of  the  stream 
that  moved  behind  him,  but  sat  (even  as  Jack  had 
done  and  would  have  been  doing  now)  listening  in  a 
sort  of  trance  to  a  music  more  bewitching  than  any 
that  is  ever  played  on  fiddles ;  and  while  the  stolen 
moments  fled  away,  he  found  himself  betraying  to 
her  his  own  life  as  he  could  never  have  done  to  any 
woman  less  persuasive  than  Margaret  Glenn. 

During  those  few  minutes  which  Margaret  had 
pilfered,  and  twice  more  during  the  evening,  Tarbell 
told  her  a  small  part  of  his  history :  How  he  remem 
bered  living  in  Vermont  in  his  dim  childhood;  how 
he  had  been  deeply  attached  to  a  little  girl  of  five,  and 
shown  his  admiration  and  prowess  by  standing  on  his 
head  upon  her  front  doorsteps;  how  his  father  had 
moved  out  to  try  his  fortune  in  the  West,  going 
from  place  to  place  until  he  had  at  last  been  struck 
down  by  an  Apache;  and  how  then  his  father's 
friends  had  taken  care  of  him  till  he  was  big  enough 
to  make  his  own  living.  There  was  a  modesty  and 
candid  good  sense  in  the  man's  way  of  telling  these 
bits  of  his  life  which  gave  them  all  the  greater  charm. 
And  as  Margaret  compared  him  with  the  other  men 
whom  she  had  met  that  evening,  they  suffered  beside 
this  giant  of  the  Arizona  desert  who  had,  like  enough, 
already  experienced  more  of  the  ordeal  of  life  than 
half  of  them  put  together.  Had  she  known  Tarbell 

210 


THE   PARTING  OF  THE  WAYS 

to  be  a  poor  man,  nay,  even  a  debtor,  the  knowledge 
would  have  made  no  difference,  save  to  give  him  in 
her  eyes  the  dignity  which  comes  of  hard,  success 
ful  struggles. 

Thus  it  came  to  pass  that  while  Jack  lay  sleepless 
upon  his  bed,  tasting  for  the  first  time  in  his  existence 
the  gall  of  disappointment,  the  best  of  his  friends  — 
the  one  whom  he  loved  most  —  was  with  Margaret 
Glenn  and  —  they  were  happy. 


211 


XXVI 

THE  BAUBLE  FAME 

IN  Jack's  morning  mail  was  a  note  from  Margaret. 
It  must  have  been  written  but  a  few  hours  be 
fore,  —  very  likely  as  soon  as  she  had  returned  from 
the  Promenade. 

DEAR  JACK,  —  I  am  going  away  very  early  to-morrow 
—  or  to-day  would  be  more  truthful,  because  it  is  morn 
ing  now.  I  am  ever  so  sorry  to  have  missed  seeing  you, 
and  for  such  a  reason.  Mr.  Tarbell  gave  me  your  mes 
sage.  It  was  nice  of  you  to  think  of  me  so  far  ahead, 
and  I  only  wish  I  could  say  Yes  without  hesitation.  But 
what  would  you  say  if  I  made  the  promise  and  could  not 
keep  it  ?  Indeed,  it  seems  improbable  that  I  could,  for 
my  father  has  been  talking  of  passing  next  winter  on  the 
Eiviera.  Of  course  we  shall  return  in  time  to  see  you 
graduate. 

Joe  has  invited  me  to  be  present  at  the  Senior  Society 
elections,  "  to  see  me  tapped."  I  think  it  would  do  him 
lots  of  good  to  have  his  plans  upset,  since  everything 
seems  to  happen  just  as  he  says  it  will.  At  the  same 
time  I  should  feel  dreadfully  humiliated  if  my  brother 
were  not  elected.  Much  to  my  regret,  I  shall  not  be 
able  to  come,  but  I  have  no  doubt  that  you  will  be 
chosen  amongst  the  first,  or  the  very  last,  for  it  appears 
that  is  the  highest  honour.  Inasmuch  as  I  may  not  see 

212 


THE   BAUBLE  FAME 

you  for  a  long  time,  may  I  offer  you  my  congratulations 
in  advance  ? 

I  hope  you  have  n't  lost  faith  in  the  efficacy  of  four- 
leaved  clovers.  Some  day  mine  is  sure  to  bring  you 
luck  —  infallibly. 

Yours  very  sincerely, 

MARGARET  GLENN. 

Jack  took  these  disappointments  seriously,  so  much 
so  that  his  demeanour  seemed  for  the  moment  to  have 
lost  its  healthy  gaiety.  Those  who  did  not  know 
him  (and  many  of  those  who  did)  attributed  his 
gravity  to  the  approaching  elections,  —  a  very  natural 
suspicion  arising  from  the  tendency  of  a  man  when 
he  is  worried  to  imagine  that  his  disease  is  epidemic. 
Had  Eldredge  known  what  some  of  his  classmates 
were  gossiping  about,  he  would,  like  enough,  have 
been  disgusted  that  they  should  imagine  he  was  fret 
ting  over  a  certainty.  He  was,  however,  perfectly 
unaware  of  their  prattle,  and  his  closest  friends  were 
no  talebearers. 

Early  in  March  Jack  yielded  to  persuasion  and 
went  into  training  for  the  Varsity  crew.  He  had 
never  swung  an  oar  save  in  a  scrub  or  class  crew, 
but  his  ability  to  do  almost  anything  in  the  athletic 
line,  and  the  sudden  departure  from  college  of  a 
famous  rowing  man,  had  caused  the  boating  folk  to 
hit  upon  Jack  as  the  most  likely  candidate.  The 
work  was  far  from  amusing,  and  used  up  four  or  five 
hours  a  day ;  but  Jack,  who  was  innocently  inclined 
to  look  upon  himself  as  a  pillar  of  the  University, 
gave  up  his  amusements  and  toiled  in  the  galleys. 

It  was  about  this  time  that  James  became  a  man  of 
213 


BOYS  AND   MEN 

letters.  He  was  elected  an  editor  of  the  "Literary 
Magazine,"  with  a  record  of  seven  body -pieces  (chiefly 
essays,  and  noble  specimens  of  learning),  of  three 
poems  (in  which  the  word  "ineffable"  occurred  four 
times),  and  of  sundry  "portfolios,"  —  that  being  the 
Yale  name  for  what  literary  folk  are  supposed  to 
throw  off  in  moments  of  the  lesser  inspiration.  Billy 
and  his  four  or  five  peers  had  laboured  painfully,  and 
merited  the  little  golden  triangles  which  are  awarded 
at  Yale  to  those  who  can  wield  a  pen. 

While  all  these  things  were  going  on,  the  spring 
days  were  at  hand.  Just  as  before  great  battles  and 
notable  assassinations  the  air  is  believed  by  some  to 
be  laden  with  storm  clouds  and  strange  lightnings, 
so  now  the  atmosphere  was  charged  with  dreadful 
portents.  The  various  soothsayers  of  the  Quadrangle 
held  their  heads  very  close  together,  whispering 
secrets  solemn  as  destiny.  Their  chief  haruspex, 
divinus  Ballentinus,  could  be  seen  at  any  hour  with 
his  tablet  and  stylus,  making  notes  and  more  notes, 
betting  and  hedging,  foretelling  and  gainsaying, 
while  all  the  other  haruspices  followed  his  auguries. 
Divinus  Ballentinus  had  played  the  races,  and  dallied 
with  the  Uncertain,  till  he  had  acquired  a  skill  that 
must  have  made  Dame  Fate  rather  uneasy,  as  to 
whether  she  could  elude  him  or  not.  Concerning 
himself  alone  was  the  seer  silent ;  rumour  had  it  that 
he  had  lent  a  princely  sum  to  a  certain  needy  but 
important  classmate,  and  that  they  would  "go"  to 
gether  on  the  fateful  day.  Furthermore,  it  was  sus 
pected  that  a  well-known  senior  had  lost  his  heart  to 
Miss  Jane  Ballentine,  and  that  the  young  lady  had 

214 


THE   BAUBLE   FAME 

given  him  a  strong  hint  as  to  the  possibility  of  his 
being  jilted  if  her  brother  failed  to  "make"  his 
Society.  Budson  hoped;  Desmond  was  pale,  and 
indecently  anxious  lest  he  should  be  seen  in  humble 
company.  Sallow  fear  sat  upon  his  gills  —  to  quote 
Milton  (or  was  it  James  ?)  —  and  it  was  this  hunted 
expression  which  caused  Ballentine  to  bet  that  Des 
mond  would  "go,"  and  also  that  Desmond  would  not 
"go."  For  a  year  past  the  man  had  wavered  be 
tween  the  hard  drinkers  and  the  religious  set,  but  his 
soul  had  finally  yielded  to  the  influences  of  religion. 
So  complete  had  been  his  conversion,  that  he  parted 
company  with  his  room-mate,  who  came  home  very 
drunk  on  Saturday  (as  wrell  as  on  any  other  week 
day),  and  made  night  hideous  with  roystering  song 
and  ribald  cries. 

If  Jack  had  been  a  prattler,  he  might  have  made 
short  work  of  his  enemy.  A  few  words  said  at  the 
right  moment  to  the  right  person,  and  cautiously, 
sorrowfully  repeated  to  some  one  else,  would  have 
travelled  quickly  enough  to  accomplish  the  damnation 
of  a  skilful  liar,  and  done  something  for  the  purifica 
tion  of  politics ;  but  Jack  held  his  peace.  Desmond 
called  upon  him  one  day,  and  came  away  looking  very 
sick  and  ugly.  Whether,  in  his  suspected  capacity 
as  a  "packer,"  Desmond  had  endeavoured  to  pledge 
Eldredge  for  a  certain  society,  or  whether  he  had 
merely  attempted  a  desirable  reconciliation,  must 
remain  a  mystery. 

About  the  middle  of  April  began  the  secret  con 
claves  in  the  tomb-like  houses  of  the  Senior  Societies. 
The  walls  were  thick,  and  no  windows  could  let  the 

215 


BOYS  AND   MEN 

awful  plottings  transpire  to  the  outer  world,  for  the 
windows  were  all  in  the  roofs.  Some  time  near  twi 
light,  the  chosen  proceeded  to  the  deaf,  dumb,  and 
blind  abodes,  to  feast  and  enjoy  themselves  before, 
taking  up  the  solemn  task  of  choosing  new  members 
to  fill  their  places.  No  one,  save  a  few  negro  ser 
vants,  and  an  occasional  plumber  or  purveyor,  pledged 
to  secrecy,  ever  got  within  the  walls.  It  is  said  that 
somewhere  in  the  sixties  a  whimsical  and  reckless 
student,  who  cared  nothing  for  his  safety  nor  good 
name,  broke  into  one  of  the  houses ;  that  he  filched  a 
number  of  priceless  relics  and  escaped,  afterwards 
demanding  an  election,  which  to  the  general  surprise 
was  granted  him.  But  his  end  was  tragic,  for  he 
died  a  ghastly  death  in  the  streets  of  Hong  Kong, 
and  the  riddle  continued  to  be  a  riddle.  Had  the 
wretch's  vanity  not  been  so  great,  what  tales  he  might 
have  told!  What  hair-raising  descriptions  he  might 
have  given  of  the  things  he  saw !  What  pleasing  ex 
planations  of  symbols  that  charm  through  their  very 
mystery!  But  what  a  scandal  it  would  have  raised, 
and  how  great  would  have  been  the  disillusions! 
Peace  rest  upon  his  unholy  spirit!  His  marauding 
is  over,  and  he  has  paid  the  penalty  of  his  crime. 

It  is  said,  furthermore,  that  some  inquisitive  dis 
consolate  tried  to  bribe  a  baker,  whom  he  had  seen 
entering  the  cellar  of  one  of  these  tombs,  to  tell  him 
what  was  within;  but  the  man  looked  sourly  at  his 
tempter,  and  held  his  tongue.  Had  he,  too,  been 
pledged,  or  could  it  be  that  he  had  seen  nothing 
more  than  bolted  doors,  while  some  mysterious  hand 
had  reached  out  of  the  darkness  to  receive  his 

216 


THE   BAUBLE   FAME 

wares?  Mystery,  and  more  mystery,  and  all  is 
mystery ! 

There  is  nothing  so  magic  in  its  works  as  the  occult 
and  invisible.  That  is  why  men  have  such  curiosity 
about  the  after  life.  John  of  Patmos,  sitting  on 
some  lonesome  rock,  devised  a  heaven  full  of  gold 
and  jewels,  gathering  in  a  gorgeous  whole  all  the 
finest  things  he  had  ever  looked  upon,  but  men  are 
suspicious  that  Heaven  does  not  look  that  way.  John 
had  never  been  inside.  Dante  tried  it,  and  he,  too, 
made  another  world,  according  to  that  in  which  be 
lived.  Besides  him  there  's  QEdipus,  trying  the 
Sphinx  and  finding  the  secret  no  such  great  one  after 
all,  and  other  prying  mortals  without  number.  What 
if  all  the  riddles  were  solved?  Ah!  says  your  phi 
losopher,  in  that  case,  my  dear  sir,  life  would  become 
a  bore,  for  nothing  would  be  so  wearisome  after  a 
while  as  omniscience.  Nothing  more  to  know? 
Preposterous ! 

Be  that  as  it  may,  five-and-forty  plotters  in  the 
year  of  grace  eighteen  hundred  and  ninety-four  were 
holding  secret  councils  twice  each  week,  planning, 
scheming,  selecting,  rejecting,  in  order  that  they 
might  find  five-and-forty  others  to  join  and  succeed 
them  in  the  observance  of  their  festive  rites.  But 
there  is  the  rub ;  for  who  outside  of  the  three  secret 
halls  could  know  what  choices  were  to  be  made? 
Could  the  electors  themselves  know  with  any  cer 
tainty  ?  Ballentine  was  "  morally  sure  "  that  "  Bones  " 
and  "  Keys  "  had  dickered  for  Glenn,  despite  the 
probability  that  Joe  would  follow  upon  his  father's 
heels,  and  he  was  equally  positive  that  James  was 

217 


BOYS   AND   MEN 

going  to  be  bilked  by  Desmond,  and  that  Jack  and 
Tarbell  would  both  go  to  "Bones."  In  fact,  Ballen- 
tine  had  drawn  up  three  lists  with  fifteen  men  in 
each,  and  had  added  the  names  of  dark  horses,  — 
"solid  men,"  who  were  going  to  get  something,  sure, 
if  some  one  else  didn't. 

Of  the  three  hundred  juniors  who  might  be  chosen, 
a  hundred,  no  doubt,  were  out  of  the  race  and  knew 
it;  another  hundred  hoped,  amongst  them  Budson ;  a 
hundred  others  regarded  their  chances  as  considera 
ble,  while  of  these  hundred  seventy-five  at  least  were 
either  perfectly  confident  or  horribly  anxious.  Some 
made  as  much  of  the  matter  as  if  life  and  fortune 
were  at  stake.  There  were  a  few  friendships  broken, 
and  much  snubbing  on  the  part  of  snobs.  Quiet 
suppers  were  given,  costing  several  dollars  a  plate; 
for  wealth  has  its  methods  too.  H.  de  Godfrey  de 
Kay,  who  knew  as  much  about  literature  as  a  Pata- 
gonian,  founded  a  literary  club,  and  gave  a  great 
dinner,  to  which  he  invited  all  the  literary  lights 
in  the  University.  He  himself  delivered  a  speech 
(which  must  have  cost  him  dear),  and  was  lauded  by 
his  friend  Edgeworthy  Small  as  "zhe  patron  of  all 
zhe  arts."  It  was  a  dreadful  fiasco.  Ballentine 
rubbed  H.  de  Godfrey  off  his  list,  and  much  ridicule 
was  cast  upon  his  lordly  hospitality.  Stoutenborough 
Jones  (whose  family  was  one  of  the  most  recent  in 
all  the  West)  fell  ill,  very  ill,  and  had  to  go  to  Ber 
muda,  —  a  deprivation  which  caused  him  to  drop  a 
class.  It  was  thought  his  chances  would  be  better 
another  year. 

With  the  warmth  of  spring  it  became  de  rigueur  to 
218 


THE   BAUBLE   FAME 

go  a-walking  along  the  finest  avenue  in  town.  This 
matter  was  arranged  by  some,  days  beforehand. 
Tarbell,  who  had  never  got  rid  of  his  plain  habits, 
was  disgusted  at  the  whole  business.  He  and  Jack 
and  Billy  slipped  away,  and  spent  their  Sunday 
afternoons  no  one  knew  where.  Frequently  Budson 
went  with  them,  and  Joshua,  too.  Drake  had  been 
elected  recently  into  a  Junior  Society,  but  nobody 
dreamed  of  him  as  a  candidate,  nor  did  the  matter 
trouble  him  in  the  least.  Joshua's  continuous  com 
munion  with  Nature  gave  him  an  indifference  to  small 
social  glories.  Save  his  friends,  to  whom  he  was 
devoted,  he  looked  upon  men  as  he  looked  upon  the 
rest  of  breathing  things.  He  had  no  prejudice,  if  it 
came  to  picking  up  a  pulpy  worm,  nor  did  he  avoid 
any  one  of  the  human  kind,  provided  the  specimen 
was  morally  decent.  Eldredge  would  not  open  his 
head,  but  he  listened  to  James,  who  raved  a  bit  now 
and  then,  and  said  some  fine  things  about  snobs,  none 
of  which  have  been  preserved. 

About  the  second  week  in  May  there  appeared  a 
pamphlet  called  the  "Horoscope."  Its  contents  con 
sisted  chiefly  of  a  mass  of  vilification,  divided  up  into 
brief  biographies  of  all  those  who  had  a  chance  of 
election.  Tarbell  was  lauded  to  the  skies,  but  Jack 
was  called  a  blockhead,  who  had  won  popularity 
simply  and  solely  because  he  had  a  fine  shape  and 
knew  how  to  use  it.  The  biographer  hinted  subtly 
that  Jack's  father  was  a  robber  baron,  and  that  his 
mother  had  been  a  domestic  servant.  Jack  read 
the  article,  and  was  so  cut  by  the  reference  to  his 
parents  that  the  tears  came  to  his  eyes,  but  he  gritted 

219 


BOYS  AND   MEN 

his  teeth,  and  turning  very  red,  swore  that  if  ever 
he  found  out  who  the  writer  was  he  would  punish 
him. 

As  the  days  went,  the  suspense  of  those  who  hoped 
for  election  became  ever  more  terrible.  Not  a  few 
looked  as  haggard  and  worn  as  if  they  had  suffered 
some  great  misfortune.  To  many  an  election  meant 
honour,  prestige,  worldly  success,  and  happiness;  a 
failure  meant  ignominy  and  social  debasement,  if  not 
ruin.  Few,  indeed,  were  those  who  in  their  hearts 
did  not  prize  an  election  to  any  of  the  three  societies, 
however  they  might  scoff  and  rail.  In  these  days 
there  was  much  talk  as  to  the  passing  of  democracy 
and  of  the  Yale  spirit.  Some  Campus  philosophers 
asserted  that  things  were  not  thus  in  the  good  old 
times.  Then  it  was  not  wealth,  but  worth,  that  was 
rewarded.  Many  a  glorious  name  was  called  up  from 
the  days  of  yore,  of  Yalensians  who  had  come  to 
college  shabby  and  penniless,  and  then,  by  dint  of 
energy,  had  risen,  step  by  step,  till  their  worth  won 
recognition  and  fame. 

On  the  afternoon  of  the  last  Thursday  in  May  a 
crowd  had  gathered  by  the  Fence,  near  an  oak  which 
stands  close  to  the  Chapel  door.  It  was  almost  five 
o'clock ;  the  air  was  sultry,  and  the  dust,  stirred  up 
by  many  feet,  rose  and  floated  in  a  motionless  mist. 
At  every  window  whence  the  elections  could  be  seen, 
men  and  women  had  gathered,  some  from  distant 
cities.  In  the  first  storey  students  were  perched 
upon  the  very  sills.  No  vantage  point  was  left  unoc 
cupied.  Every  foot  of  the  Fence  had  been  taken. 

220 


THE   BAUBLE  FAME 

The  crowd  beneath  the  oak  was  so  tightly  packed 
that  only  those  on  the  edges  seemed  free  to  move. 

On  the  stroke  of  five  there  rose  a  murmur  from  the 
standing  throng.  It  began  to  move  slowly  in  the 
direction  of  the  Old  Library.  Some  of  the  most 
curious  craned  their  necks,  or  bracing  themselves  on 
their  neighbours'  shoulders,  strove  to  catch  sight  of 
the  approaching  figures.  Presently  a  young  man 
clad  in  black  came  toward  the  crowd.  Entering 
where  it  was  thinnest,  he  pushed  his  way  silently 
through,  while  every  eye  strove  to  follow  him.  Sud 
denly  stopping  behind  Tarbell,  the  young  man  smote 
him  on  the  back,  crying,  "  Go  to  your  room !  "  There 
rose  a  cry  of  delight,  but  Tarbell  simply  looked  about 
and  made  for  his  room,  followed  by  the  one  who  had 
tapped  him.  A  second  later,  another  mournful  figure 
emerged  from  the  alley  between  Durfee  and  the 
Chapel.  He,  too,  forced  his  way  into  the  thickest 
part  of  the  throng,  but  not  finding  his  man,  came 
out.  An  outpost  spoke  to  him,  and  turning,  he 
walked  along  the  Fence.  A  second  more,  and  he 
slapped  none  other  than  Drake  upon  his  unconscious 
back.  Joshua  looked  about  with  astonishment.  "  Go 
to  your  room!  "  said  the  man;  and  Drake  went  off 
with  his  head  down,  while  a  friendly  cheer  went 
up  from  many  a  throat.  Ballentine  consulted  his 
list, 

Meanwhile  other  figures  were  silently  threading 
their  way  through  the  crowd,  their  eyes  straight 
ahead,  and  with  the  grim  expression  which  a  man 
gets  when  he  is  doing  awful  deeds.  The  crowd 
surged  slowly  to  and  fro,  but  there  was  scarcely  a 

221 


BOYS  AND   MEN 

sound,  except  a  cheer  as  some  one  was  tapped  and 
headed  for  his  room.  As  man  after  man  received  an 
election,  the  excitement  grew  more  intense.  Just  as 
when  passengers  are  being  taken  from  a  ship  that  is 
gradually  sinking,  those  who  remain  upon  the  deck 
wait  anxiously  for  their  turn  to  come,  and  their  faces 
are  drawn  and  white,  though  they  may  struggle  to 
express  their  joy  at  the  rescue  of  their  companions; 
so  upon  that  day,  as  each  new  man  is  chosen,  those 
who  have  set  their  hearts  upon  it  struggle  ever 
harder  to  hide  their  feelings  as  the  probability  grows 
with  each  election  less. 

When  James  was  elected,  some  of  his  worst  ene 
mies  leaped  up,  waving  their  hats  and  slapping  one 
another  on  the  back,  while  their  cheer  rose  huskily 
like  a  gasp  on  the  stifling  air.  Billy  went  straight  to 
his  room,  as  if  in  a  daze,  and  hardly  daring  to  look 
around.  In  a  minute  or  so  he  returned  to  the  Quad 
rangle,  and  was  warmly  congratulated  by  Eldredge 
and  Tarbell,  who  seized  both  his  hands  in  such  a 
grip  that  he  winced. 

"Bill,  you  're  a  bully  boy,"  said  Tarbell.  "I  was 
afraid  some  other  man  would  get  you. " 

"I  was  afraid  nobody  'd  get  me,"  answered  James. 

"It  looks  bad  for  me,"  observed  Jack,  with  a  smile. 
"  There  are  only  two  places  left  and  —  there  goes  one 
of  them  now! " 

The  three  men  looked  in  the  same  direction.  Evi 
dently  there  had  been  a  great  surprise,  for  the  crowd 
uttered  a  queer  yell,  and  every  one  seemed  to  be 
exclaiming  to  his  neighbour.  A  junior  was  making 
for  his  room  with  his  face  scarlet,  and  his  chin  on  his 

222 


THE  BAUBLE  FAME 

breast.  He  was  closely  followed  by  a  senior.  Sud 
denly  the  senior  quickened  his  step,  and,  just  as  the 
two  reached  the  entry  whither  they  were  headed,  he 
laid  his  hand  on  the  junior's  shoulder. 

"I  'm  sorry,"  he  faltered,  "I've  made  a  mistake; 
you  're  not  the  man  I  was  after.  Please  forgive  me." 
With  these  words  he  turned  rapidly  back  to  his  hall. 
The  junior's  face  was  deathly  white.  He  staggered 
a  few  steps,  and  would  have  fallen,  had  he  not  been 
caught  and  supported  by  a  couple  of  classmates,  who 
put  their  arms  about  his  waist  and  helped  him  to  his 
room.  For  a  moment  the  throng  beneath  the  oak  had 
scattered,  in  order  to  see  what  had  happened,  but'  in 
that  instant  of  excitement  the  incident  had  scarcely 
any  effect.  Afterwards  it  was  spoken  of  as  a 
"tragedy." 

Scarcely  had  the  crowd  reassembled,  when  Glenn 
was  seen  to  refuse  one  society  and  a  few  seconds 
later  receive  election  to  another.  The  next  instant 
Desmond  was  tapped.  His  partisans,  some  of  whose 
faces  were  ghastly  for  the  fear  that  was  on  them, 
raised  a  fierce  yell,  and  danced  with  histrionic  joy, 
shouting  hoarsely,  and  breaking  into  laughter  that 
sounded  more  like  a  hysterical  paroxysm  than  the 
utterance  of  healthy  human  beings. 

An  hour  had  passed,  and  each  of  the  three  socie 
ties  had  chosen  all  but  one  or  two  of  its  men.  As  the 
result  of  the  election  became  more  certain,  the  excite 
ment  seemed  to  lessen.  Various  men  were  beginning 
to  compare  notebooks,  and  discuss  the  justice  or  in 
justice  of  the  choices.  Jack  slipped  quietly  into  the 
densest  part  of  the  throng  still  gathered  beneath  the 

223 


BOYS  AND  MEN 

oak.  Presently  another  man  was  chosen.  A  shout 
went  up,  more  careless  and  enthusiastic  now. 

"It's  Benbow!  "  some  one  shouted;  "it's  old 
Chub  Benbow!  Well,  well,  well!  Bully  for  you, 
Chub!  Go  straight  to  your  room!"  There  must 
have  been  some  allusion,  for  a  shout  of  laughter  rose 
as  the  newly  elected  and  his  tapper  issued  from  the 
press,  and  hurried  down  the  Durfee  walk.  How  little 
we  know  what  is  to  become  of  a  man!  Two  years 
later  this  very  fellow,  mounted  on  a  table  in  a  street 
of  Athens,  was  reciting  some  verses  of  Homer,  which 
he  had  once  been  forced  to  learn,  while  a  delirious 
swarm  of  Greeks  hearkened  to  his  ravings  as  if  he  had 
been  a  Byron.  The  next  day  he  took  ship,  and  was 
later  fighting  amongst  the  Turks ! 

The  surprise  and  amusement  aroused  by  the  election 
of  this  man  had  put  the  on-lookers  into  good  humour. 
Believing  that  Eldredge  was  to  be  the  last  man  chosen, 
they  closed  around  him  five  or  six  deep.  Apparently 
the  awe  felt  during  the  earlier  stages  of  the  perform 
ance  was  giving  place  to  a  desire  to  have  a  little  fun 
at  the  expense  of  the  Senior  Societies.  It  is  said  that 
persons  who  go  to  funerals  are  often  affected  in  this 
way. 

A  sombre  fellow,  fresh  from  his  mausoleum,  came 
toward  the  crowd  with  a  dreadfully  humbug  expres 
sion  on  his  countenance.  The  jesters  wedged  Jack 
all  the  closer,  and  looked  at  the  solemn  young  man 
with  curiosity.  There  were  a  few  foolish  witticisms. 

"It 's  very  close  here,"  said  one. 

"Hush!"  said  another;  "speak  gently;  my  leg  is 
asleep;"  and  some  one  whispered:  "I  wonder  what 

224 


THE   BAUBLE  FAME 

the  gentleman  wants?"  The  gentleman  was  rather 
nettled.  His  dignity,  and  in  him  the  dignity  of  his 
society,  was  being  put  to  a  test  impertinent,  if  not 
vulgar.  The  game  lasted  so  long  that  the  myste 
rious  young  man,  after  prowling  about  the  crowd  like 
a  wolf  that  is  trying  to  get  his  booty  from  the  midst 
of  a  lot  of  old  horned  cattle,  began  to  look  disgusted 
in  a  refined  way.  Then  he  started  off.  The  little 
crowd  fell  apart  for  an  instant.  In  that  instant  an 
unknown  gentleman,  who  had  approached  unseen, 
stepped  behind  Eldredge  and  slapped  him  lustily  be 
tween  the  shoulders. 

"Go  to  your  room,"  said  he.  Jack  turned  about, 
and  observing  that  the  gentleman  wore  on  the  lower 
left  side  of  his  bosom  a  piratical  gold  symbol,  he  made 
for  his  room.  A  lusty  cheer  went  up.  There  was  a 
clapping  of  hands  from  the  windows,  and  many  an 
exchange  of  congratulations.  Poor  Wilbur  Fay,  who 
for  three  years  had  thrown  his  studies  by  the  board 
and  licked  boots  every  day  of  that  time,  burst  into 
tears ;  and  faith,  there  was  many  a  sour  supper  eaten 
that  night. 


15  225 


XXVII 

LOVE  AND   GLOOM 

SOME  men,  when  they  have  been  elected  to  what 
the  College  esteems  as  highly  as  if  it  were  a 
demi-deification,  relapse  quickly  into  the  idleness 
which  ambition  or  love  of  badges  has  for  a  while  dis 
turbed.  They  have  played  with  bat  and  ball,  suffered 
their  bodies  to  be  bruised  in  harsher  struggles,  writ 
ten  essays  on  subjects  of  which  their  ignorance  was 
deep,  and  tales  that  failed  to  thrill;  they  may  have 
wheedled,  shirked,  or  beguiled,  or  (be  it  heartily  con 
fessed)  they  may  have  taken  themselves  seriously, 
and  believed  it  was  simply  the  Ideal.  Suddenly  the 
goal  is  reached,  and  they  go  no  farther.  Such,  for 
instance,  was  the  case  with  the  late  Parker  Hay  — 
"late,"  for  once  he  was  thought  a  great  man,  and 
rather  thought  so  himself,  but  it  was  merely  mutual 
and  self  deception.  He  rose  to  the  height  of  his  fame 
in  his  twenty-second  year,  has  ever  since  been  rotting 
—  and  is  now  worse  than  dead. 

Ballentine,  on  the  other  hand,  was  disappointed 
but  still  lives.  He  acquitted  his  bets  long  ago 
(though  Mr.  Harmsby  the  haberdasher  and  others 
still  regret  his  remarkable  power  of  purchase  and 
his  small  tendency  to  pay).  As  for  Jame's,  he  settled 
back  into  his  editorial  chair,  and  read  effusions  with 
out  number,  of  which  the  relatively  best  were  con- 

226 


LOVE  AND   GLOOM 

signed  to  a  place  called  Heaven,  while  others  waited 
in  the  basket  called  Purgatory,  or  were  flung  into 
that  marked  Hell.  Meanwhile  he  wrote  sonnets  to 
an  Unknown,  read  the  Chapbooks,  and  discussed  the 
world's  failings  with  remarkable  grace  of  style. 

During  those  days  of  June  Tarbell,  with  a  pound 
or  two  of  clothes  on  his  two  hundred  weight  of  body, 
cast  huge  iron  balls  and  hammers,  and  the  uncovered 
parts  of  his  skin  turned  browner  and  browner  till  he 
looked  like  a  prehistoric  man.  Somebody  with  a 
dash  of  learning  nicknamed  him  "Dante,"  and,  of 
a  truth,  his  face,  especially  from  the  side,  bore  a 
strong  resemblance  to  that  of  the  stern  Florentine. 

Meanwhile  Jack  was  toiling  like  a  galley-slave  on 
the  Varsity  crew,  and  working  at  his  books  whenever 
he  got  the  time.  It  was  hard  work,  even  for  the 
splendid  men  who  took  part  in  it.  Nor  was  there  any 
noisy  approval,  nor  any  personal  parade;  each  man 
was  only  a  variable  fraction  in  an  orderly  machine, 
and  each  man's  business  was  to  lose  his  personality 
for  the  sake  of  all. 

How  fine  they  looked  in  their  glistening  duck 
breeches,  their  blue  jackets  with  the  white  initials  of 
the  crew  upon  the  breast  pocket,  and  their  broad- 
visored  caps !  And  what  a  pleasing  thing  to  see  their 
stalwart  forms  covered  only  with  a  sleeveless  shirt, 
short  trunks,  and  heavy  loose-fitting  socks,  as  they 
raised  the  shell  with  a  dexterous  swing  above  their 
heads,  and  laid  it  gracefully  upon  the  water ! 

Four,  even  five  hours  a  day,  they  trained  steadily, 
obeying  in  silence  whatever  they  were  told  to  do. 
As  the  shell  sped  through  the  often  choppy  waters 

227 


BOYS  AND  MEN 

of  the  harbour,  a  coach  followed  them  closely  in  the 
launch,  yelling  his  orders  through  a  broad-mouthed 
trumpet:  "Number  Five,  don't  drag  your  oar.  Lift 
clean.  Shoot  out  your  arms.  Now  steady!  All 
together!  "  and  the  shell  glided  along  each  day  more 
smoothly.  The  little  coxswain  sang :  "  All  together, 
All  together,  Now!  Now!"  keeping  time  to  the 
stroke's  oar;  and  on  rough  days  the  waves  came 
smacking  against  the  side  of  the  shell,  and  threw  a 
salt  spray  into  the  faces  of  the  crew,  and  little  streams 
trickled  down  their  backs  mingling  with  the  sweat. 

As  the  day  of  the  great  race  drew  nearer,  each  oar 
fell  into  the  water  with  a  smoother  dip,  and  on  the 
end  of  the  pull  was  swung  through  the  air  with  an 
ever  evener  and  swifter  grace,  so  that  the  boat  ceased 
gradually  to  rock  and  lunge  forward  like  a  tired  horse 
at  the  goal.  There  was  something  beautiful  in  the 
obedience,  the  silence,  the  harmony  of  it  all. 

Jack  had  grown  very  serious  in  those  last  days  of 
June.  Bad  news  had  come  from  home.  Mrs.  Eldredge 
was  ill,  indeed  she  was  worse  off  than  Jack  knew; 
but  Mr.  Eldredge  had  written  that  she  might  soon  be 
better,  and  that  Jack  should  know  if  there  was  any 
danger.  Besides  that,  there  sometimes  lurked  in  his 
mind  an  uneasy  feeling,  which  he  could  not  define. 
Now  and  then  he  heard  of  Margaret's  doings  through 
his  room-mate  Glenn.  She  had  gone  to  New  York  to 
study  singing  under  a  famous  master.  Occasionally 
she  slipped  into  her  letters  to  Joe  some  little  word  of 
remembrance,  but  that  was  all.  Jack  would  have 
liked  to  find  some  excuse  for  writing  to  her;  yet  she 
had  never  asked  him  to  do  so,  and  the  boy  could  not 

228 


LOVE  AND  GLOOM 

have  written  if  he  would,  for  his  mind  was  of  an 
eminently  practical  kind,  and  it  would  have  seemed 
to  him,  no  doubt,  almost  like  the  assumption  of  some 
thing  which  had  no  recognized  existence.  Margaret 
was  very  proud,  and  her  dignity  was  of  a  queenly 
kind.  Sometimes  she  had  seemed  very  girlish  and 
friendly;  but  then  she  had  a  way  of  surrounding 
herself  with  a  certain  atmosphere  that  would  have 
kept  the  most  reckless  man  at  his  distance.  Jack 
held  her  in  a  sort  of  awe,  while  more  and  more  the 
remembrance  of  her  beauty  and  the  fascination  of  her 
ways  clung  upon  him. 

James,  who  had  the  intuition  of  a  woman,  knew 
something  was  amiss,  and  in  one  of  those  confidential 
moments  which  one  man  may  have  with  another,  he 
asked  Eldredge  what  was  the  matter. 

"  I  'm  getting  bad  news  from  home,"  said  Eldredge. 
"My  mother  isn't  well,  Billy.  It  looks  as  if  they 
were  hiding  something  from  me.  I  hardly  know 
what  to  make  of  it.  My  father  's  not  in  the  habit  of 
covering  things  over,  but  I  feel  it,  you  know.  I  've 
told  them  I  'd  give  up  rowing  for  a  while  —  for  good 
if  necessary,  and  come  home,  but  they  say  everything 
will  be  right  soon,  and  that  I  'd  better  stay  here. 
They  will  tell  me  —  my  father  will  tell  me  —  if  she 
gets  worse."  There  was  a  tremor  in  the  boy's  voice, 
and  he  looked  at  Billy  with  a  very  hard  expression  on 
his  face,  as  if  there  was  a  struggle  within  and  he  was 
trying  to  conceal  it.  It  was  just  this  that  caused 
some  of  Eldredge 's  classmates  to  say  he  had  got  a 
"swelled  head  "  and  imagined  he  was  the  great  mogul 
of  all  creation. 

229 


BOYS   AND   MEN 

Just  before  the  final  examination  the  crew  went  to 
New  London,  and  took  up  quarters  at  Gale's  Ferry  on 
the  Thames.  The  Harvard  Eight  were  some  dis 
tance  down  the  river.  They  had  not  been  there  long, 
when  Jack  got  a  letter  from  his  father.  His  mother 
was  much  better;  she  had  been  able  to  sit  out  on  the 
piazza,  and  had  read  all  the  papers  that  said  any 
thing  about  the  crew.  Jack  became  more  cheerful, 
and  pulled  his  oar  so  well  that  the  coach  seldom 
blamed  him.  The  other  men  were  rowing  splendidly, 
and  from  what  could  be  seen  with  a  spyglass  of  the 
Harvard  crew,  it  looked  as  if  there  were  to  be  a  hard- 
fought  race. 

A  proctor  was  sent  down  from  the  University  to 
supervise  the  examinations  of  the  crew.  He  had  been 
a  rowing  man  in  his  day,  and  knew  so  well  with  what 
breed  of  men  he  had  to  do,  that  they  were  left  to  their 
honour,  which  in  crew  men  is  very  high.  While  the 
proctor  sat  outside  to  catch  the  breeze  from  the 
Thames,  ten  men  (to  say  nothing  of  the  coxswain), 
sat  inside  and  answered  questions.  Meanwhile  they 
continued  to  row,  and  the  coxswain  learnt  where  the 
worst  of  the  eelgrass  grew,  where  the  tide  swerved 
trickily,  how  to  dodge  the  swiftest  parts  of  the  cur 
rent,  and  above  all,  how  to  steer  so  thriftily  that  his 
left  hand  would  not  have  to  sin  because  the  right  had 
pulled  too  strong. 

On  the  day  before  the  race,  Eldredge  received  a 
letter  written  in  the  hand  he  knew  so  well.  It  was 
from  Margaret.  Her  father  had  delayed  sailing  for  a 
week,  and  she  was  coming  to  look  on  from  some 
body's  private  car;  she  was  to  be  under  escort  of  Mr. 

230 


LOVE  AND   GLOOM 

Tarbell;  would  Jack  try  to  see  her  after  the  race? 
She  named  a  place  where  she  expected  to  be,  but  that 
was  all. 

On  the  evening  of  that  day  Eldredge  slipped  away 
from  his  companions,  and  went  down  upon  the  float, 
where  he  sat  staring  at  the  moonlit  water  and  won 
dering.  So  her  father  had  chosen  a  later  sailing, 
and  she  was  coming,  coming  with  Tarbell.  For  a 
moment  there  flashed  into  his  thoughts  a  fancy  which 
he  had  not  known  before.  He  rose,  and  began  to 
walk  slowly  to  and  fro,  thinking.  She  was  coming 
to-morrow  with  Tarbell,  and  at  home  his  mother  was 
lying  ill.  If  he  saw  Margaret,  it  could  be  for  only  a 
moment  after  the  race,  for  then  he  must  go  home; 
and  in  that  moment?  And  how  was  it  that  her 
brother  was  not  mentioned?  But  after  all,  no  one 
was  to  blame.  Mr.  Glenn  had  changed  his  plans,  and 
Tarbell  could  easily  have  found  that  out,  and  would 
naturally  not  have  hesitated  to  extend  to  her  such  a 
courtesy.  Eldredge  stopped  for  an  instant,  and 
looked  at  the  dark  blue  river.  A  breeze  was  gradu 
ally  freshening  from  the  southeast,  and  masses  of 
bluish  clouds  began  to  obscure  the  moon.  Perhaps 
a  storm  would  come,  and  make  rowing  impossible, 
and  then  he  would  be  able  to  see  her  more,  for  he 
knew  that  she  would  not  fail.  Ever  Margaret,  Mar 
garet!  Even  in  absence  she  possessed  him.  He 
could  almost  hear  the  ring  of  her  voice  and  see  her 
form.  He  stood  quite  still,  and  the  emotion  flooded 
his  soul  until  he  forgot  all  that  was  about  him  and 
could  think  of  her  alone.  The  clouds  had  grown 
murkier  and  thicker,  they  were  hurrying  across  the 

231 


BOYS  AND   MEN 

moon;  rain-drops  were  falling  slowly  on  his  bare 
head,  but  his  body  alone  perceived  them.  Suddenly 
he  felt  a  hand  laid  gently  on  his  shoulder,  and  some 
one  spoke.  It  was  the  captain  of  the  crew. 

"Jack,"  he  said,  "don't  you  see  it 's  raining?  " 

Eldredge  turned  and  said,  "Yes,  I  know  it," 
though  he  had  not  known  it  until  then. 

"How  is  your  mother?"  asked  the  other  man, 
gently.  "I  hope  she  's  better,  Jack." 

"She  is,"  he  answered.     "She  is  much  better." 

The  words  were  uttered  in  an  odd  tone,  but  the 
captain  did  not  notice. 

"It's  a  bad  night,"  he  muttered.  "Looks  now 
as  if  we  were  going  to  have  a  choppy  course  to 
morrow." 

"Yes,  I  'm  afraid  to-morrow  will  be  a  rough  day," 
Eldredge  answered,  as  his  companion  turned  and 
walked  up  to  the  quarters.  Jack  did  not  follow  him 
immediately,  but  stepped  absent-mindedly  to  the  edge 
of  the  float,  where  the  water  was  bubbling  along  the 
planks,  purling  and  chuckling  to  itself  as  it  played 
beneath  him.  He  was  suffering  as  he  had  not  suffered 
before.  The  thought  that  his  own  wishes  had  car 
ried  him  beyond  the  power  of  his  will ;  that  he  had 
utterly  forgotten,  in  his  own  selfish  absorption,  the  one 
who  had  never  forgotten  him  an  instant  of  his  life, 
but  had  watched,  prayed,  and  dreamed  for  him,  was 
like  anguish.  On  the  other  hand,  what  had  the  other 
done?  Why  was  it  that  the  very  thought  of  her 
seized  him  and  made  him  oblivious  of  all  else,  as  if 
she  had  been  an  angel  of  goodness,  his  angel,  ready 
to  endure  for  his  sake  all  things,  to  give  a  year  of  her 

232 


LOVE  AND    GLOOM 

life,  if  need  be,  that  his  own  might  be  happy?  Is 
there  a  sadder  truth  in  nature  than  that  a  man  should 
ever  forget  that  tie,  and  let  the  spell  of  another  being 
seize  him  body  and  soul  with  such  force  that  the  love 
and  goodness  of  her  who  would  sacrifice  the  last  drop 
of  her  blood  become  as  nothing  ? 

Eldredge  stood  for  a  while  a  prey  to  his  confused 
emotions,  staring  sadly  out  upon  the  waters.  Then 
he  passed  by  his  friends  with  a  quiet  good-night,  and 
went  to  his  room.  He  drew  from  his  pocket  a  small 
gold  thing,  —  a  locket  containing  a  four-leaved  clover, 
withered  a  little  now,  but  still  green.  His  eyes  rested 
on  it  earnestly,  as  if  it  had  been  a  symbol  instead  of  a 
mere  toy  given  to  him  in  a  moment  of  caprice.  Well 
he  remembered  the  touch  of  her  finger-tips  and  her 
smile,  the  lurking  mysterious  expression  in  her  eyes, 
and  the  tone  of  each  word  she  had  uttered.  Then 
Tarbell  came  into  his  mind,  and  he  fell  to  wondering 
why  he,  rather  than  some  one  else,  had  happened  to 
be  Margaret's  escort;  but,  after  all,  she  had  spoken 
often  to  him  of  Tarbell.  Indeed,  how  could  she  help 
it;  for  there  was  a  man  stanch  and  loyal  to  the  core, 
his  best  and  ablest  friend,  well  worthy  of  what  favour 
she  might  show  him  ?  Tarb  had  done  well  to  ask  her, 
and  to-morrow  he,  Jack,  would  see  them.  His 
thoughts  came  pell-mell,  hurtling  one  another,  passing 
so  swiftly  that  they  hardly  seemed  to  desire  a  conclu 
sion.  Finally,  Eldredge  heard  some  of  his  companions 
approaching,  and  so  with  his  mind  still  in  a  whirl, 
anxious  as  well  as  somewhat  guilty  and  sad,  he  threw 
off  his  clothes,  and  his  tired  body  slowly  won  back  its 
sway,  so  that  the  sweetest  queller  of  sorrows  came 

233 


BOYS  AND   MEN 

upon  him,  driving  away  for  a  while  the  cares  that 
were  not  soon  to  end. 

Hardly  had  the  crew  breakfasted,  when  a  postman 
came  with  a  special  delivery  letter  for  Eldredge.  Jack 
tore  it  open  anxiously,  and  went  off  to  read  its  con 
tents  alone.  Mrs.  Eldredge  had  suffered  a  relapse ; 
she  had  fainted,  but  her  physicians  said  she  was  now 
no  longer  in  great  danger;  she  might  be  well  within 
a  week  or  two.  At  all  events,  the  crisis  had  passed, 
and  Jack  should  stand  by  the  crew  till  the  race  was 
over.  The  letter  ended  cheerfully,  with  an  admoni 
tion  to  do  his  best. 

Eldredge  relied  so  thoroughly  on  the  good  sense  of 
his  father,  that  it  scarcely  occurred  to  him  to  give  up 
his  place.  No,  he  would  stick  to  his  post  for  the  few 
hours  which  remained,  and  then  he  would  go  home. 
Having  read  the  letter  once  more,  he  tucked  it  into 
his  pocket,  and  rejoined  the  crew,  who  were  receiv 
ing  instructions  from  the  coach,  —  the  final  touches. 

Meanwhile,  gaily  decorated  steamers  from  New 
York,  New  Haven,  and  Boston  were  slowly  working 
their  way  to  a  vantage-point  on  the  river.  Many 
steam  yachts  with  streamers  flying  were  manoeuvring 
for  a  good  position,  and  dozens  of  smaller  craft  were 
tacking  in  and  out  amongst  the  steamers  in  search  of 
the  safest  anchorage. 

Clouds,  still   rising  out  of  the  stormy  southeast, 
were  moving  in  gray  masses  across  the  sky,  and  the 
harbour  was  whitened  in  places  by  the  breaking  crests 
of  its  greenish  waves,  while  an  ocean  breeze  meeting 
the  river's  current  roughened  it  so  much  as  to  keej 

234 


LOYE   AND   GLOOM 

the  smaller  boats  ashore.  If  the  weather  did  not 
abate  by  noon,  the  race  would  have  to  be  postponed. 

By  eleven  o'clock  a  long  train  of  flat  cars,  crowded 
with  the  partisans  of  Harvard,  arrived  opposite  the 
starting  line.  A  few  hundred  feet  behind  came  an 
other  train  densely  laden  with  people,  indistinguish 
able  behind  a  mass  of  waving  blue.  In  a  closed  car 
of  this  train,  near  the  front,  were  Tarbell  and  Mar 
garet  Glenn. 

Shortly  before  noon  the  wind  began  to  die  down, 
the  Thames  grew  smoother,  and  the  white  caps  on  the 
harbour  disappeared.  Sodden  clouds  hung  motion 
less,  but  the  sunlight  was  stealing  through  them, 
lightening  their  edges  to  a  silvery  gray.  Presently 
one  of  the  crews  was  seen  to  launch  its  shell  and 
move  slowly  toward  the  line.  A  cheer  went  up  from 
thousands  of  people  along  the  river-banks,  whistles 
blew,  and  flags  went  shooting  up  and  down  the  hal 
yards  of  many  a  yacht.  A  minute  later  Yale's  crew 
was  seen  nearing  the  line.  The  two  shells,  held  by 
their  sterns,  were  allowed  to  swing  down  the  current. 
Sixteen  oars  swung  back  together,  and  remained  for 
an  instant  motionless  over  the  stream.  A  second 
later  they  struck  the  water,  and  the  two  boats  were 
moving  evenly  down  the  river. 

"Which  is  our  crew?"  asked  Margaret. 

"The  one  this  way,"  answered  Tarbell. 

"  Can  you  see  ?  "  she  continued.  "  You  may  look 
over  my  shoulder,  if  you  will."  Margaret  moved  a 
little  nearer  the  edge  of  her  chair,  and  Tarbell  placed 
his  own  so  that  they  both  could  get  a  good  view. 
Margaret  removed  her  hat,  and  laid  it  upon  her  lap. 

235 


BOYS  AND   MEN 

A  ray  of  sunlight  stole  through  the  clouds,  and  shone 
on  her  face  and  hair. 

"They  are  rowing  finely,"  she  said.  "How 
straight  their  backs  are!  And  isn't  it  beautiful  the 
way  they  all  come  forward  together  —  so  smoothly ! 
I  wish  we  were  near  enough  to  see  their  faces.  Have 
you  ever  noticed  those  long-legged  insects  that  go 
skipping  across  little  pools?" 

"Yes,  indeed,"  said  Tarbell.  "But  I  don't  sup 
pose  they  ever  imagine  themselves  to  resemble  Varsity 
crews." 

"Perhaps  not,"  answered  Margaret;  "but  they 
certainly  know  how  to  manage  their  oars."  She 
smiled  a  little  at  the  nonsensical  comparison,  and 
taking  an  opera  glass,  followed  silently  for  a  few 
moments  the  progress  of  the  two  shells. 

"  Would  you  like  to  look  through  my  glass  ?  "  she 
said,  turning  partly  around  toward  Tarbell.  "Per 
haps  you  can  tell  me  who  is  at  each  oar." 

"Well,"  said  Tarbell,  scanning  closely  while  she 
awaited  his  answer,  "Number  Four  is  Jack." 

"  Is  it ?  "  she  responded;  " and  who  are  the  others  ?  " 
He  named  them  one  by  one.  The  Harvard  men  were 
quickening  their  stroke,  and  seemed  to  be  drawing 
slowly  ahead  of  Yale. 

"Why  don't  you  row  on  the  Varsity  crew?  "  asked 
Margaret. 

"They  tried  me  one  day,"  he  answered. 

"Only  one  day?" 

"Only  one.  The  coach  said  I  was  too  big  and 
clumsy." 

"I  don't  think  you  are  clumsy,"  she  answered. 
236 


LOVE  AND  GLOOM 

Tarbell  was  on  the  point  of  saying  that  it  was  a  good 
thing  for  the  University  she  did  n't  manage  the  crew, 
but  remembered  that  she  was  a  woman,  and  held  his 
tongue.  Margaret  continued  to  gaze  out  through  the 
window,  as  if  intent  upon  the  steady  glide  of  the 
crews.  Suddenly  she  turned  half  around  and  spoke 
in  a  low  tone. 

"Did   you   know,"  she   asked,    "that   in   another 
week  I  was  going  away?" 

"Joe  told  me  you  were,"  said  Tarbell;  "but  he 
didn't  say  when  you  were  coming  back." 
"Would  you  like  to  know?"  she  asked. 
"Yes,"  he  answered.  The  two  boats  were  moving 
swiftly  down  the  Thames,  but  Tarbell  did  not  see 
them.  He  was  looking  at  his  big  hands  awkwardly. 
There  had  come  upon  him  a  sensation,  once  vaguely 
felt,  now  subtle  and  pervasive  as  a  thrill.  He  almost 
feared  to  look  up  lest  she  might  see.  Margaret  drew 
a  long  silver  pin  from  her  hat,  and  laid  the  heavier 
end  of  it  upon  her  lips. 

"I  am  glad  we  are  going,"  she  said.  "No  one 
knows,  and  you  cannot  understand."  There  was  a 
momentary  silence.  Tarbell  looked  at  her  face  a 
single  instant.  She  smiled,  but  rather  sadly.  He 
stared  at  the  racing  crews,  hardly  realizing  what  they 
were  doing  out  there  on  the  river,  and  all  this  while 
Yale  had  been  creeping  up  on  the  Harvard  boat,  and 
three  miles  of  the  course  were  done.  Other  people 
in  the  car  were  following  the  race  eagerly,  but  they 
did  not  speak. 

It  was  at  this  moment  that  a  messenger  arrived  at 
the  quarters  of  the  Yale  University  crew,  and  asked 

237 


BOYS  AND   MEN 

for  Eldredge.  A  man  in  charge  told  the  boy  to  sit 
down  and  wait.  The  Varsity  would  be  back  in  less 
than  an  hour.  "All  right,"  observed  the  boy,  who 
was  anxious  to  see  the  crew.  "I  '11  sit  down  here  till 
they  come.  But  this  telegram  's  marked  '  Haste. '  " 

"Well,   just  take  it  easy,  young  man,"  remarked 
the  keeper.     "They'll  be  back  in  a  while." 
"How  near  the  end  are  they?  "  asked  Margaret. 
"They  have  been  rowing  seventeen  minutes,"  said 
Tarbell.     "  I  should  think  a  mile. " 

"  Our  crew  is  a  length  ahead,  is  it  not?  " 
"And  drawing  away,"  he  added.  "The  Harvard 
people  are  getting  tired.  Do  you  see  how  they 
splash  ?  Our  boys  are  as  steady  as  if  they  were  being 
towed.  In  three  or  four  minutes  we  '11  have  it  won. 
May  I  have  another  look  through  your  glass,  Miss 
Glenn?" 

He  peered  for  a  while  through  the  two  barrels, 
adjusting  them  to  the  distance.  Half  or  three-quarters 
of  a  mile  from  the  train,  each  boat,  a  colourless  streak 
upon  the  leaden  Thames,  was  moving  nearer  and 
nearer  to  the  goal.  The  oars  moved  more  swiftly 
but  less  evenly  now.  Between  the  nose  of  one  shell 
and  the  rudder  of  the  other  was  a  rod  or  so  of  open 
water.  A  sound  of  cheering  rose  above  the  rumble  of 
the  trains,  while  off  there  across  the  now  hazy  river 
the  hardly  distinguishable  blue  of  countless  flags 
waved  from  the  decks  of  crowded  steamers  and 
yachts.  Whistles  were  beginning  to  blow,  and  there 
came  from  out  on  the  Thames  the  faint  sound  of  a 
cheer.  Tarbell  handed  the  glass  to  Miss  Glenn,  who 
looked  earnestly  toward  the  finishing  line. 

238 


LOVE  AND   GLOOM 

"How  many  minutes  have  gone?"  she  asked. 

"Twenty-two,"  said  Tarbell,  "and  they  are  over 
the  line." 

"  Oh,  look !  "  exclaimed  Margaret.  "  Something  has 
happened.  A  man  has  fainted.  It 's  Number  Four!  " 

"It's  Jack, "said  Tarbell. 

Unconsciously  Margaret  had  laid  her  hand  on  Tar- 
bell's  arm.  In  the  other  she  clutched  her  forgotten 
glass  and  was  straining  her  eyes  to  see  all  that  had 
happened.  A  moment  later  the  observation  train  had 
begun  to  move  slowly  toward  New  London. 

A  flush  had  overspread  Margaret's  face,  which 
heightened  when  she  realized  that  for  a  single  instant 
she  had  lost  her  self-possession.  She  drew  back  with 
a  slightly  averted  glance. 

"What  is  the  matter?"  said  Tarbell,  in  a  low,  firm 
voice.  "  You  're  not  afraid  of  me,  are  you? " 

"No,  no,"  she  answered,  "it  wasn't  that.  I  was 
wondering  —  Joe  has  told  me  —  you  do  not  under 
stand." 

"I  think  I  do,"  he  whispered.  Their  eyes  met; 
there  was  a  recognition,  a  thousand  unspoken  words 
passed  between  them  in  a  moment. 

"Now  you  see,"  continued  Margaret,  in  a  voice  so 
low  that  he  alone  could  hear.  "  You  see  why  I  want 
to  go  away.  My  brother  has  told  me  that  Jack's 
mother  is  very  ill ;  but  that  is  not  all.  She  will  be 
well  again,  I  'm  sure." 

"I  hope  she  will,"  he  answered.  "It  would  be 
very  hard  for  Jack ;  he  feels  such  things  —  he  feels 
everything  more  than  most  men  do.  Besides,  Jack 
has  never  known  what  it  is  to  be  wretched." 

239 


BOYS  AND   MEN 

"He  is  beginning  to  know  now,"  she  answered. 

There  ensued  a  moment  of  silence.  The  train  was 
coming  into  New  London. 

"  You  said  you  were  going  away, "  Tarbell  ventured. 

"Yes,"  she  replied;  "this  afternoon.  In  a  week 
we  sail.  You  see,"  Margaret  went  on,  with  an  effort 
to  smile,  "I  'm  running  away  from  my  crimes.  I  've 
done  very  wrong,  and  there  's  a  heavy  burden  on  my 
conscience  —  my  punishment  has  already  begun.  It 's 
dreadful  to  think  of.  I  could  not  bear  to  have  added 
to  anybody's  misfortunes.  You  are  his  friend." 

"I  'm  almost  his  brother,"  said  Tarbell. 

"Then  some  day,  when  I  am  gone,  you  will  tell 
him  —  Oh,  no !  I  could  not  ask  you  that ;  it  would 
be  too  cowardly.  Oh,  how  weak  it  is  of  me  to  shift 
my  faults  on  you!  " 

"No,"  he  said,  "it  is  not  weak  or  cowardly.  You 
have  done  no  wrong;  only  Jack  was  self-deceived." 

"You  don't  blame  me,  then?" 

"No  one  is  to  blame,"  he  answered;  "it's  only  a 
misfortune.  If  Jack  suffers,  I  shall  stand  by  him." 

"  How  fond  you  are  of  him!  " 

"I  couldn't  very  well  be  anything  else,"  said 
Tarbell. 

The  train  was  slowing  down  as  it  entered  the 
station.  The  other  persons  in  the  car  who  had  been 
jubilantly  discussing  the  race  rose  and  moved  toward 
the  door.  Tarbell  helped  Margaret  to  put  on  her 
jacket,  and  handed  her  the  little  blue  banner,  which 
neither  had  thought  to  wave.  He  started  to  say 
something,  but  the  words  clogged  in  his  throat. 

"This  is  the  end,"  said  Margaret. 
240 


LOVE  AND   GLOOM 

"Yes,"  he  answered,  "this  is  the  end.  Are  you 
coming  again  soon?" 

"In  a  year." 

"  A  year  is  a  long  while.  How  am  I  to  know  what 
has  become  of  you?" 

"I  shall  tell  you,"  she  answered.  They  descended 
from  the  train,  and  joining  their  party,  made  their 
way  slowly  through  the  jostling  crowd.  It  was  still 
early  in  the  afternoon.  The  storm  clouds  had  drifted 
away  upon  the  horizon,  and  a  July  sun  was  shining 
cheerily  into  the  thoroughfares  of  the  old  town.  For 
some  moments  neither  Tarbell  nor  Margaret  had 
spoken.  Both  moved  forward  with  the  crowd,  almost 
as  if  in  a  dream.  The  new  life  had  come,  shining 
into  the  mournful  shadows,  and  the  old  fancies  had 
been  of  a  sudden  stricken  out ;  but  the  ghosts  of  them 
were  there,  the  ruthless  memories  of  moments  passed 
in  unthinking  happiness  and  the  loyalty  of  man  to 
man,  greater  but  far  less  enthralling  than  any  love  of 
woman. 

An  hour  later  a  carriage,  driven  in  haste,  stopped 
before  the  entrance  to  a  house  in  Huntington  Street. 

"Wait  a  minute,"  said  Eldredge  to  the  driver. 
"This  seems  to  be  the  place."  He  ascended  the 
steps  quickly  and  rang.  A  servant  came  to  the  door, 
and  looked  startled  at  the  white  face  of  this  man  who 
came  to  interrupt  a  feast. 

"Give  this  card  to  Miss  Glenn,"  he  said,  "and  tell 
Mr.  Tarbell  I  wish  to  see  him."  He  entered  the 
parlour,  but  remained  standing.  A  moment  later 
Margaret  appeared,  and  coming  toward  Jack,  held 
out  both  her  hands.  Tarbell  stood  beside  her.  Jack 
16  241 


BOYS   AND   MEN 

tried  to  speak,  but  the  words  failed  him  and  his  eyes 
filled  with  tears. 

"You've  come,"  said  Margaret,  faltering.  "I 
hoped  you  would  come."  Tarbell  stepped  forward 
and  laid  his  hand  on  Jack's  shoulder  tenderly. 

"Good-bye,  Margaret,"  said  Eldredge.  "Good 
bye,  Tarb." 

"Oh,  Jack,"  cried  Margaret,  bursting  into  a  flood 
of  tears,  "she  is  dead,  your  dear  mother  is  dead!  " 

For  an  instant  he  stood  there  speechless,  holding 
their  outstretched  hands,  his  face  pale  as  death.  He 
turned  away  then,  saying,  ," Good-bye,  Margaret; 
good-bye,  Tarb.  I  'm  going  home."  A  moment  later 
he  had  gone. 


242 


XXVIII 

ON  THE   RAILWAY 

OUTSIDE  the  house  of  Eldredge  flowers  were 
blooming  and  nodding  their  perfumed  heads 
in  the  breezes  as  if  nothing  had  ever  happened.  Tim 
othy  and  his  companions  frisked  over  the  lawns 
thoughtlessly,  too,  as  in  the  days  of  old.  But  within 
there  was  stillness,  for  the  figures  that  had  passed 
silently  to  and  fro  were  gone,  leaving  three  men 
alone,  one  of  whom  at  least  had  borne  it  all  to  the 
end  gently,  as  becomes  a  gentleman  who  has  known 
some  of  the  worst  and  some  of  the  best  things  the 
world  has  to  give.  Jack,  being  less  self-controlled 
than  his  father,  was  more  visibly  affected.  When 
the  first,  most  painful  signs  had  disappeared,  he  gave 
vent,  like  the  boy  he  was,  to  an  emotion  stronger 
than  his  will.  And  Tarbell  stood  by  him,  grim  and 
strong  and  comforting.  More  and  more  Jack  trusted 
in  Tarbell,  who  became  to  him  what  few  brothers  are 
in  fact,  though  less  in  name. 

And  one  day  Tarbell  disappeared.  He  left  no  word 
of  explanation  except  a  note  which  he  laid  on  Jack's 
table,  saying  that  he  had  been  called  away.  A  fort 
night  later  there  came  from  him  a  letter  dated  at 
some  out-of-the-way  place  in  Arizona,  whither  he  had 
gone  to  look  after  a  certain  number  of  "  city  lots," 
the  value  of  which  had  fallen  fifty  per  cent. 

243 


BOYS  AND  MEN 

Mr.  Eldredge  smiled  when  Jack  read  him  the 
letter. 

"  Tell  Tarbell  not  to  bother  about  his  property," 
he  said.  "I'll  make  it  worth  his  while  to  come 
back.  His  salary  will  be  enough  to  make  up  for  any 
losses  he  may  suffer  out  there." 

«  I  'd  rather  not,"  said  Jack.  "  Tarbell  is  n't  that 
sort.  It  took  him  ten  years  to  save  the  money  he  's 
buried  there,  and  it 's  the  principle  of  the  thing." 

"You're  right,  Jack,"  replied  Mr.  Eldredge.  "I 
remember  now  how  he  feels.  But  we  must  have 
him  if  we  can  get  him  to  come." 

A  week  later  Tarbell  came  back.  He  had  sold  his 
land  for  a  fair  sum  to  "Eastern  parties,"  he  didn't 
know  whom.  Mr.  Eldredge  did,  but  said  nothing. 
Tarbell  and  Jack  spent  two  months  that  summer 
helping  to  build  a  branch  line.  Partly  for  comfort's 
sake  and  partly  out  of  pure  good-will,  Eldredge  had 
taken  board  and  lodgings  in  a  farmhouse  not  far 
from  the  tracks,  while  Tarbell  slept  amongst  his 
books  and  papers  in  a  shanty  nearer  the  line.  Their 
work  was  quite  different,  but  they  got  together  even 
ings  sometimes  with  the  other  men,  oftenest  alone  j 
and  Sundays  they  spent  at  The  Oaks  with  Mr. 
Eldredge.  He  was  fonder  than  ever  of  their  com 
pany  now  that  Mrs.  Eldredge  was  gone.  So  they 
lived  more  and  more  as  if  the  breach  of  years  had 
been  bridged  over,  and  the  fact  of  memories  dear  to 
all  and  common  aims  was  binding  them  in  an  ever 
closer  friendship.  What  a  pity  it  is  that  the  liking 
of  man  for  man  should  ever  be  blighted  or  marred 
—  even  by  love  of  woman ! 

244 


ON  THE  RAILWAY 

One  evening  Jack  came  to  Tarbell,  in  an  unusually 
cheery  and  somewhat  excited  state. 

"  Tarb,"  he  said,  "I  got  a  letter  from  Joe  to-day." 

"Did  you?  And  what's  he  doing?  What's  he 
got  to  say?" 

"  Oh,  they  're  travelling,"  Jack  answered,  drawing 
his  chair  near  the  lamp.  "Margaret  sends  me  her 
regards.  Here  it  is :  '  Daisy  wishes  to  be  remem 
bered.'  "  Then  he  added  kindly,  "She'd  have  sent 
you  a  word  too,  partner;  but  I  don't  suppose  she 
knows  where  you  are."  Tarbell  made  no  answer, 
and  Jack  went  on  slowly,  holding  the  letter  before 
him  to  the  light :  "  Let  me  see,  Tarb.  To-night 's 
Thursday  and  to-morrow  's  Friday ;  hence  the  follow 
ing  day  will  be  Saturday.  Now,  if  I  answer  this 
evening,  it'll  catch  that  midnight  train  and  be  in 
time  for  Saturday's  steamer.  By  the  tenth  or 
eleventh  of  September  my  epistle  should  reach  Dres 
den,  and  that  will  catch  him,  sure.  Joe  is  going  to 
leave  them  there.  Shall  I  put  in  your  remembrances 
or  anything  ?  " 

"  Yes,"  said  Tarbell,  stopping  a  moment  to  look  at 
Jack,  who  was  testing  a  pen  on  his  nail.  "  You 
might  send  them  my  regards.  Good-night,  Jack." 

"Good-night,  Tarb,"  responded  Eldredge,  with  a 
smile.  "  God  bless  you  !  " 

Tarbell  went  to  his  rough  lodging-place,  lit  a  lamp, 
and  sitting  down  before  a  pine  table,  hid  his  face 
between  his  crossed  arms.  He  remained  so  for  some 
minutes,  motionless,  then  rose  and  went  to  a  trunk 
from  which  he  took  a  bundle  containing  perhaps 
a  dozen  letters,  all  written  in  the  same  hand  and  on 

245 


BOYS  AND   MEN 

the  same  kind  of  paper.  Some  he  merely  glanced  at ; 
others  he  read  from  beginning  to  end.  One  enclosed 
a  spray  of  withered  foreign  flowers  —  forget-me-nots 
—  a  little  different  from  our  own.  He  held  them  in  the 
palm  of  his  hand  for  a  while,  then  laid  them  within 
their  envelope  carefully.  One  of  the  letters  he  read 
several  times,  and  having  done  so,  walked  to  and  fro 
slowly,  staring  at  the  floor  like  a  man  whose  soul  is 
away  from  the  body.  Presently  he  sat  down  and 
fell  to  writing,  halting  every  now  and  then  to  wipe 
the  beads  of  perspiration  off  his  glasses.  It  was  a 
hot  night  in  August.  When  Tarbell  had  ended  his 
letter,  he  put  on  his  hat,  took  his  heavy  walking- 
stick,  and  started  down  the  stairs.  His  foot  had 
scarcely  touched  the  first  step  when  he  heard  some 
one  calling  him  at  his  window.  It  was  Eldredge. 

"  Tarb,"  he  called,  "are  you  up?" 

"  Yes,"  said  Tarbell.  "Is  there  anything  I  can  do 
for  you  ?  " 

"  I  should  say  so,"  he  answered.  "  I  want  a  five 
cent  stamp,  and  every  mother's  son  in  the  town  that 
ought  to  have  one  has  gone  to  bed.  Have  you  got 
one?" 

"Yes,"  said  Tarbell,  "I  believe  I  have.  Wait  a 
minute,  I've  got  something  to  mail,  too  —  I'll  be 
with  you."  Tarbell  locked  his  door  carefully,  de 
scended  to  the  street  where  Jack  was  waiting,  and 
handed  him  the  stamp. 

"It's  funny,"  said  Eldredge,  "I  shouldn't  have 
had  one  on  hand;  but  then  I'm  an  absent-minded 
duffer.  I'm  glad  you  didn't  have  to  be  routed  out 
of  bed,  but  there  is  no  reason  why  you  should  go  way 

246 


ON  THE   RAILWAY 

down  to  the  office.  Give  me  your  letter.  I  was  bound 
there  anyhow." 

"  No,"  said  Tarbell,  "  I  "11  go  along  with  you." 

"  That 's  a  good  idea,"  answered  Eldredge.  "  Some 
of  those  dagos  we  've  got  working  on  the  tracks  might 
tackle  us,  in  which  case  we  'd  need  your  stick." 

They  walked  on  without  saying  much  until  they 
reached  the  letter-box.  Then  Jack  spoke. 

"  Well,  Tarb,"  said  he,  "  I  was  n't  aware  that  you 
burned  the  midnight  oil,  writing  letters;  but  it's  a 
good  thing  for  a  man  now  and  then.  Besides,  it's 
enabled  me  to  get  a  five  cent  stamp  without  having 
to  wake  you  up.  I  think  I  '11  take  a  short  cut  across 
the  fields.  That  '11  give  me  plenty  of  room  to  run  if 
anybody  gets  after  me.  Good-night,  again,  Tarb.  I 
did  n't  forget  to  give  Joe  and  Daisy  your  regards." 

"  Good-night,  Jack,"  replied  Tarbell ;  and  each  of 
them  went  his  way.  It  would  be  hard  to  say  which 
of  the  two  men  had  the  better  right  to  be  happy. 


247 


XXIX 

WHEN   STORMS  ARISE 

FIVE  weeks  after  the  occurrence  just  narrated, 
Jack  and  Tarbell  had  returned  to  College.  Their 
summer's  work  had  been  more  than  ordinarily  trying, 
and,  though  each  knew  that  he  had  hardened  his 
shoulder  to  the  wheel,  they  were  not  sorry  to  take  up 
again  the  less  exacting  labours  of  college  life.  Not 
being  place-hunters,  neither  of  them  refused  to  do 
whatever  he  could  for  the  University's  prowess,  and 
neither  forewent  the  chance  to  have  fame  while  it 
lasted.  Their  hand-to-hand  experience  had  given 
them  a  point  of  view  unknown  to  most  undergradu 
ates,  —  an  ability  to  recognize  the  points  in  common 
between  the  world  that  thinks  for  thought's  sake  and 
the  world  that  thinks  for  money.  Tarbell  had  learned 
something  of  the  matter  years  before ;  but  his  educa 
tion  had  begun,  as  the  saying  is,  cart  before  the  horse, 
whereas  Jack  had  got  his  lessons  in  the  usual  way. 
It  is  largely  a  question  of  maturity. 

At  Oxford  a  man  is  a  man  from  the  beginning, 
because  an  Englishman  acquires  through  hard  knocks 
and  inborn  soberness  of  thinking  what  comes  later  to 
his  American  kinsman.  For  an  Oxonian  the  title  is 
not  a  claim.  The  Yalensian  calls  himself  a  man  as 
early  as  freshman  year,  but  as  he  grows  older  he  is 
less  and  less  likely  to  assert  his  maturity,  and,  once 

248 


WHEN   STORMS  ARISE 

out  of  college,  will  call  himself  a  boy.  Tarbell,  who 
was  in  his  day  the  oldest  living  undergraduate,  had 
become  a  man  years  before  he  entered  college.  Jack, 
on  the  other  hand,  was  a  boy  until  sometime  in  his 
twentieth  year.  Yet  it  must  be  owned  that  neither 
of  these  men  could  be  cited  as  an  average  case,  for 
their  earlier  years  had  been  passed  in  the  opposite 
extremes  of  stress  and  ease. 

Since  his  mother's  death,  Eldredge  had  aged  five 
years ;  five  years  measured  by  as  many  months.  The 
grasp  of  his  hand  was  as  warm  and  his  smile  as  cheery 
as  in  the  boyhood  days,  but  his  expression  had  become 
graver  and  at  times  there  was  a  tinge  of  bitterness  at 
the  corners  of  the  lips.  His  grief  at  the  first  blow  of 
misfortune  had  been  all  the  more  violent  because  of 
his  effort  to  control  it ;  but  now  the  inborn  buoyancy 
of  his  character,  the  redeeming  strength  of  a  healthy 
body,  were  again  exerting  their  sway.  Jack  was  not 
the  man  to  put  on  sackcloth  and  ashes,  though  his 
loyalty  was  not  the  less  steadfast,  nor  could  it  be 
shaken  by  the  fulsome  admiration  of  which  he  was 
daily  the  victim. 

Meanwhile  Tarbell  went  his  way,  minding  his 
business  so  closely  that  he  was  hardly  to  be  seen 
except  on  the  athletic  field  or  at  his  studies.  B alien- 
tine  had  long  since  ceased  to  make  a  haunt  of  Tar- 
bell's  room,  and  the  remainder  of  the  easy-going 
brotherhood  had  scattered  in  search  of  new  diversions. 
Being  now  in  his  thirty-first  year,  he  refrained  from 
spinning  tops  as  well  as  from  the  other  traditional 
follies  of  senior  year  which  Budson  practised  with 
the  zeal  of  a  Moslem. 

249 


BOYS   AND   MEN 

Autumn  fled,  and  on  its  trail  hastened  the  short 
winter  days  when  men  bake  their  brains  over  hot 
window-seats  and  talk  of  heroes.  Then  suddenly  the 
dead  leaves  which  had  clung  through  six  months  of 
frost  and  storms  began  to  fall  from  the  oak,  little 
green  buds  burgeoned  on  every  branch,  and  it  was 
spring. 

In  May,  Glenn  received  word  from  his  family  that 
they  would  soon  come  home.  Indeed  they  would  have 
returned  long  before  had  it  not  been  for  Margaret, 
who  had  her  way.  She  sent  her  brother  a  marvellous 
picture  of  herself,  a  photograph  taken  by  the  Herr 
Graf  von  Hohenhausen,  in  Baden-Baden,  upon  the 
back  of  which  he  had  put  his  name  with  a  foolish  in 
scription.  "  He  has  proposed  to  me  twice,"  she  wrote, 
"  and  was  so  unhappy  the  second  time  that  I  feared  he 
would  take  his  life,  or  do  something  still  more  unrea 
sonable.  That  is  why  I  allowed  him  to  make  this 
photograph,  which  was  a  wild  performance,  but  it 
would  have  been  a  great  pity  to  think  the  Herr  Lieu 
tenant  had  drowned  himself  on  my  account." 

However  great  a  simpleton  the  Herr  Graf  may  have 
been  in  other  respects,  he  had  at  least  succeeded  in 
making  an  admirable  picture  of  Margaret  Glenn. 
With  what  nicety  he  had  contrived  the  harmonies  of 
light  and  shadows !  How  judicious  or  how  lucky 
he  had  been  in  seizing  the  moment  when  Margaret's 
face  wore  the  expression  which  best  symbolized  her 
character !  The  suggestion  of  pride,  deep-seated,  the 
irony,  the  apparent  simplicity,  the  winsomeness,  and, 
beneath  them  all,  the  possibility  of  some  sudden  whim 
awaiting  only  the  moment  to  enforce  itself  wilfully 

250 


WHEN   STORMS   ARISE 

and  to  be  gratified,  —  each  of  these  traits  was  there, 
but  so  mingled  with  the  others  as  to  give  the  face  a 
most  inscrutable  charm.  Deep  set  in  a  frame  of 
ebony,  Margaret's  likeness  hung  over  her  brother's 
desk  between  medallions  of  other  members  of  Glenn's 
family.  One  of  these,  representing  a  girl  of  sixteen, 
was  a  portrait  of  a  great-great-grandmother.  So 
striking  was  the  resemblance  to  Margaret  that  only 
the  old-fashioned  tone  of  the  ivory  and  something 
antique  about  the  lady's  dress  could  have  prevented 
the  conclusion  that  they  were  the  same  person.  In 
one  of  his  few  confidential  moments  Glenn  had  told 
Jack  something  of  the  lady's  history. 

When  Virginia  rose  in  rebellion,  she,  too,  had 
rebelled  ;  not  so  much  against  the  iniquitous  taxes  of 
King  George  III.  as  against  parental  despotism,  and 
one  dark  night  she  had  slipped  out  of  the  house  and 
ridden  off  with  Captain  Glenn,  whose  likeness  faced 
hers,  scowling  somewhat  stiffly  across  Margaret's  pic 
ture.  Jack,  who  was  fond  of  romantic  tales  provided 
they  had  actually  happened,  recounted  the  story  to 
TarbeU. 

"  Just  think  what  courage  she  must  have  had," 
observed  Jack,  "  to  give  up  her  family  and  all  that 
sort  of  thing  for  a  conviction." 

"  You  mean  for  the  captain,  don't  you  ?  "  returned 
Tarbell.  "  Do  you  imagine  any  girl  of  sixteen  ever 
had  political  convictions  ?  " 

"  What  makes  you  think  she  was  only  sixteen  ?  " 
asked  Jack. 

Using  a  penholder  for  a  pointer,  Tarbell  indicated 
certain  features  of  the  photograph  and  of  the  medal- 

251 


BOYS  AND   MEN 

lion.  "  There  is,"  said  he,  "  about  five  years'  differ 
ence  in  the  forehead,  three  in  the  eyes  and  mouth, 
and  four  and  a  quarter  in  the  bust.  That  averages 
about  four,  does  n't  it?  " 

"I  don't  quite  grasp  your  arithmetic,"  laughed 
Eldredge. 

"  Look  here,"  said  Tarbell,  "  it 's  like  this :  Some 
parts  of  a  face  are  always  behind  or  ahead  of  the 
others,  aren't  they?  Now  you  just  make  a  little 
calculation,  divide  the  result  by  x,  and  if  you  don't 
reach  my  result  there  's  no  truth  in  Buncombe.  In 
other  words,  Margaret  knows  more  than  her  great- 
great-grandmother  probably  did  when  she  eloped 
with  Captain  Glenn ;  but  I  'm  mighty  glad  she  was 
that  rash." 

"  So  am  I,"  said  Jack,  with  earnestness. 

"Have  you  heard  when  Margaret  is  to  arrive?" 
asked  Tarbell. 

"  Yes,  I  Ve  got  an  idea,  from  what  Joe  said  to-day, 
that  she  would  be  here  in  four  weeks." 

"  Do  you  know  by  what  steamer  ?  " 

"  Joe  mentioned  the  German  Lloyd.  I  did  n't  ask 
further;  you  know  he  never  says  much  about  his 
family." 

"  No,"  responded  Tarbell,  who  had  begun  to 
sharpen  a  pencil,  "I  don't  imagine  he  does/*  He 
raised  his  eyes  carelessly  toward  Jack,  blew  the  dust 
from  his  fingers,  and  started  to  go.  At  that  instant 
there  came  upon  him  a  desire  to  reveal  the  truth,  but 
something  in  Jack's  face  frightened  him,  and,  deeper 
still,  he  felt  within  himself  the  prompting  of  reason 
and  justice,  bidding  him  never  to  give  her  up.  Yet 

252 


WHEN  STORMS  ARISE 

it  was  a  great  pity,  for  some  one  must  suffer,  inevit 
ably,  and  then  what  might  not  happen  ?  Jack  was 
his  friend,  his  "  brother,"  and  no  doubt,  if  occasion 
required,  would  be  ready  to  make  for  him  almost  any 
sacrifice  —  almost  any  —  and  would  it  not  be  wiser 
after  all  to  stifle  his  own  longings  and  give  up  the 
possibility  of  great  happiness  ?  But  could  he  do  so  in 
a  way  compatible  with  loyalty  and  honour  ? 

In  the  midst  of  Tarbell's  meditation  Jack  had  come 
beside  him  and  rested  his  arm  on  Tarbell's  shoulder. 
For  a  minute  the  two  men  stood  looking  at  Margaret's 
photograph  in  silence.  She  was  smiling  rather 
vaguely,  and  in  the  expression  of  the  face  there  was 
a  glimmer  of  artificiality  which  was  not  without  its 
charm.  If  people  were  only  as  constant  as  their 
portraits,  how  strangely  monotonous  a  place  the 
world  would  be !  In  Margaret's  smile  was  some 
thing  mysterious,  with  just  that  element  of  witchery 
which  keeps  Mona  Lisa  from  being  a  very  ordinary 
woman. 

Tarbell  and  Jack  continued  to  look  at  Margaret's 
likeness  for  a  few  moments,  intensely  and  in  silence, 
as  if  probing  the  secret  of  its  charm.  She  was  smil 
ing  upon  them  with  an  air  of  amiable  indifference, 
just  as  she  had  smiled  upon  the  Herr  Graf  von 
Hohenhausen  in  Baden-baden.  As  they  started  to 
go,  Jack  turned  toward  Tarbell  and  said,  "  Tarb, 
I  've  been  thinking  what  I  might  have  done  if  I  had 
been  the  Count." 

"  What  would  you  have  done  ?  "  asked  Tarbell. 

"  I  think,"  said  Jack,  "  that  I  would  have  carried 
out  my  threat  in  the  most  comfortable  way  possible." 

253 


BOYS  AND   MEN 

A  week  after  the  occurrence  just  related,  Glenn 
was  startled  in  his  sleep  by  some  one  shaking  violently 
the  door  between  the  hall  outside  and  the  study.  It 
was  at  the  dead  of  night,  and  Jack,  weary  with  the 
day's  labour,  was  sleeping  like  a  dead  man  in  the 
opposite  chamber.  Glenn  rose  drowsily,  struck  a 
light,  and  opening  the  door,  was  confronted  by  a  boy 
in  uniform. 

"  Does  Mr.  Eldredge  live  here  ? "  asked  the  boy, 
sleepily  holding  out  a  yellow  envelope. 

"  Wait  a  moment,"  replied  Glenn,  and  passing  into 
his  chum's  room,  woke  him  with  difficulty. 

"  Jack,"  he  said,  "  Jack,  there 's  a  message  for 
you." 

Eldredge  rubbed  his  eyes  and  looked  about  him  in 
a  dazed  way.  "  A  message,"  he  repeated ;  "  for  me  ? 
What  is  it?" 

"I  don't  know,"  said  Glenn.  "You'll  have  to 
get  up  and  sign.  Perhaps  you  will  want  to  send  an 
answer." 

"I  hate  these  telegrams,"  muttered  Jack,  as  he 
went  to  the  door.  "  Now  I  wonder  what 's  in  this 
one." 

He  tore  open  the  envelope,  and  held  the  yellow 
paper  to  the  light.  His  face  grew  suddenly  pale,  he 
walked  unsteadily  toward  the  centre-table,  where  he 
stood  still  clinging-  to  the  yellow  paper.  It  was  so 
pitiful  a  sight  that  even  the  little  messenger  stared 
at  the  man's  tall  still  figure  anxiously. 

"  Jack !  "  cried  Glenn,  "  Jack,  for  God's  sake,  what 
has  happened?  " 

Eldredge  made  no  answer,  but  moved  slowly  to  a 
254 


WHEN   STORMS  ARISE 

chair,  in  which  he  sank  with  his  head  resting  limply 
upon  his  arms.  Glenn  came  beside  him  and  said 
softly,  "  Jack,  can't  you  tell  me  what  is  the  matter  ?  " 

Eldredge  raised  his  head  and  looked  at  Glenn 
dully. 

"  It 's  from  Smythe,"  he  muttered.  "  He  says  my 
father  was  struck  to-night  while  crossing  the  tracks 
and  can't  live  many  hours."  Jack's  voice  failed  him, 
and  he  fell  to  sobbing  convulsively.  Glenn  stood 
silent  until  Jack  burst  out  passionately:  "What 
have  I  done  that  all  this  trouble  should  come  to  me  ? 
There  is  no  one  left  —  not  one." 

In  the  early  morning  a  train  moved  out,  bearing 
Jack  to  a  silent  house  and  to  the  millions  which  at 
that  moment  he  would  gladly  have  given  for  any 
condition  unlike  his  own.  Tarbell  and  Glenn  stood 
by  the  track  in  silence,  and  watched  him  standing 
motionless  upon  the  rear  platform  of  the  train  until 
the  last  car  rounded  a  curve  and  disappeared. 


255 


XXX 

THE  POINT   OF   HONOUR 

TARBELL  had  followed  Jack  a  few  days  after 
the  latter's  departure,  had  done  what  he  could 
to  make  the  burden  easier,  and  now  they  were  again 
at  College.  In  two  weeks  their  university  life  would 
be  over.  Four  years !  They  had  passed  swiftly,  as 
all  that  is  good  must  pass,  and,  for  Jack,  how  bitter 
had  been  the  end !  He  had  aged  visibly,  and  seemed 
preoccupied  and  unable  to  adjust  himself  to  new 
conditions  or  to  find  comfort  in  any  thought  but  one. 
And  in  that,  too,  he  felt  a  restlessness,  due,  not  so 
much  to  any  definable  suspicion  as  to  a  belief  that 
some  mishap  must  befall  wherever  his  interests  were 
concerned.  Half  persuaded  though  he  was  that  it 
would  be  wise  to  unburden  himself  to  Tarbell,  a 
sense  of  chivalric  obligation  toward  Margaret  kept 
him  from  making  the  confidence.  Never  had  he 
been  so  possessed  by  one  ambition,  and  all  the  glories 
that  had  once  meant  so  much  were  relegated  to  a 
boyish  past.  Grief,  too,  was  losing  some  of  its  sting. 
To  his  mind  Margaret  was  the  best  of  living  crea 
tures,  pure-souled,  high-minded,  incapable  of  injus 
tice  ;  beautiful,  too,  —  but,  boyishly,  he  did  not  stop 
to  consider  whether  that  was  at  the  bottom  of  his 
adoration. 

256 


THE  POINT  OF  HONOUR 

In  the  last  days  of  their  college  life  Eldredge  and 
Tarbell  were  so  busy  in  the  fulfilment  of  the  various 
duties  which  had  been  intrusted  to  them  by  their 
classmates  that  neither  of  them  was  able  to  meet  the 
steamer  which  brought  the  Glenns.  They  called, 
however,  on  the  day  following,  the  Glenns  having 
come  immediately  to  New  Haven.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Glenn  were  out,  but  Margaret  announced  that  she 
would  see  them  in  a  few  minutes.  Jack  had  picked 
up  a  book  and  was  turning  the  leaves  and  listening. 
As  Margaret  entered,  he  rose  almost  with  a  start. 
"  Jack,"  she  said,  "  how  glad  I  am  to  see  you ! " 
For  a  second  she  held  his  hand  as  if  to  express  by  a 
sympathetic  clasp  a  thought  she  was  powerless  to 
utter ;  then  turning,  while  her  lips  said,  "It  is 
good  to  see  you  again,  Mr.  Tarbell,"  her  eyes  ques 
tioned,  "Does  Jack  know?"  but  Tarbell's  did 
not  answer,  and  his  face  wore  only  its  ordinary 
look  of  self-possession.  "  You  have  n't  changed," 
she  added ;  and  Tarbell  said  gravely,  "  No,  it 's  not 
my  way  to  change  —  not  in  so  short  a  time  as  a 
year." 

"  Where  is  Joe  ?  "  asked  Eldredge,  and  there  was 
something  in  .  his  manner  of  putting  the  question 
which  showed  that  he  had  not  said  what  was  upper 
most  in  his  mind. 

"  I  think,"  answered  Margaret,  "  that  he  is  making 
arrangements  for  the  dance  this  evening." 

"  Of  course,"  exclaimed  Jack,  a  little  embarrassed. 
"  I  wonder  how  I  could  forget  he  was  on  the  com 
mittee.  Do  you  intend  to  go,  Daisy  ?  " 

"Yes,"  she  answered;  "Joe  has  made  plans  for 
n  257 


BOYS   AND   MEN 

me,  and  I  can  hardly  refuse  —  though  it  will  be  so 
unlike  old  times  with  both  of  you  away." 

"  Why,  I  thought  you  were  going,  Tarb,"  cried 
Jack. 

"  No,"  said  Tarbell,  "  I  've  made  up  my  mind  not 
to  go."  He  spoke  with  an  abruptness  which  deterred 
Jack  from  further  inquiry,  yet  it  occurred  to  him 
that  Tarbell's  reason  must  be  the  same  as  his  own. 
Margaret  looked  at  Jack  for  an  instant  searchingly, 
but  there  was  nothing  in  his  expression  to  show 
that  he  had  noticed  her  inadvertence. 

"  On  the  whole,"  continued  Tarbell,  "  I  am  inclined 
to  think  that  it  will  be  a  benefit  to  everybody  for  you 
and  me,  Jack,  to  stay  at  home.  Alumni  Hall  was 
so  jammed  last  year  that  it  was  impossible  even  to 
faU  down." 

"  But  was  n't  that  a  senior  dance  ?  "  asked  Margaret. 

"  Yes,"  answered  Tarbell,  "  I  just  looked  through 
the  doors.  Of  course  they  would  n't  have  let  me  in." 
His  eyes  twinkled  as  he  added :  "  I  don't  see  why 
they  're  making  all  this  talk  about  a  football  game 
between  some  female  college  and  Yale.  It 's  easy 
enough  to  see  which  side  would  win  if  you  look  at 
our  Senior  Promenade." 

Margaret  and  Jack  laughed  at  Tarbell's  sally,  and 
the  conversation  turned  into  a  safer  channel.  Mar 
garet  chatted  of  her  experiences  in  Europe,  avoiding 
any  mention  of  Graf  von  Hohenhausen  or  others 
who  had  paid  her  court,  and  as  the  talk  ran  on 
lightly  from  one  thing  to  another,  she  seemed  herself 
again,  a  shade  older,  to  be  sure,  and  a  little  graver 
and  less  given  to  the  delicate  ironies  which  had  once 

258 


THE  POINT  OF  HONOUR 

kept,  for  Jack  at  least,  the  deeper  part  of  her  character 
in  darkness.  The  joy  of  Margaret's  presence  made 
Tarbell  oblivious  of  his  forebodings,  and  he  was  only 
recalled  when  he  caught  the  note  of  anxiety  in  Jack's 
inquiry  as  to  how  long  Margaret  would  remain. 

"  That  will  depend  on  my  brother,"  she  answered. 
"My  father  and  mother  will  stay  here  until  he  is 
quite  ready  to  leave,  and  then  we  shall  all  go  to 
gether." 

"  Joe  told  me  this  morning,"  said  Jack,  "  that  he 
was  expecting  to  get  away  the  day  after  graduation  ; 
so  you  will  be  here  till  then  ? " 

"  Yes,"  she  replied,  "  I  think  we  shall."  Her  face 
had  grown  suddenly  serious,  but  there  was  no  other 
evidence  of  her  returning  apprehension.  Tarbell 
was  on  the  point  of  speaking  when  Jack  rose. 
"  Tarb,"  he  said,  "  had  n't  we  better  be  going?  It  is 
past  five." 

"  You  must  go  now  ?  "  asked  Margaret. 

"  We  have  a  committee  meeting  in  ten  minutes," 
said  Tarbell. 

"  I  am  very  glad  to  have  seen  you,"  said  Margaret. 
"A  year  can  be  a  long  time  for  old  friends,  you 
know." 

"  When  shall  I  see  you  again  ?  "  asked  Jack. 

"  To-morrow  at  the  concert." 

"  No,"  he  answered,  "  I  can't  very  well  go  there." 

A  natural  impulse  led  Margaret  to  try  to  atone  for 
her  thoughtlessness.  "  I  shall  be  free  on  Thursday 
morning,"  she  said,  "  and  glad  to  see  you." 

Tarbell  took  Eldredge  by  the  arm.  "  Come,  Jack," 
said  he  ;  "  we  must  not  keep  them  waiting." 

259 


BOYS   AND   MEN 

The  two  men  had  scarcely  gone  when  Margaret 
wrote  a  hurried  note,  and  despatched  it  by  a  messen 
ger,  saying  there  would  be  no  answer. 

A  few  hours  later,  dressed  for  the  ball,  she  was  sit 
ting  alone  in  a  private  drawing-room  of  the  hotel. 
More  than  once  she  glanced  at  a  clock  which  was 
ticking  loudly  at  the  other  end  of  the  room.  Pres 
ently,  hearing  a  step,  she  rose,  and  stood  face  to  face 
with  Tarbell.  He  came  toward  her  without  a  word. 

44  Oh,  Tom,"  she  exclaimed,  "  I  feared  you  might 
not  come  !  And  Jack  —  he  does  not  know  ?  " 

"  Not  that  I  am  here,"  answered  Tarbell,  calmly ; 
"but  I  have  deceived  him  for  the  last  time."  He 
spoke  deliberately,  with  no  tone  of  rebuke ;  but  Mar 
garet,  for  the  instant  taking  his  words  amiss,  flushed, 
and  her  eyes  sparkled  disdainfully. 

"I  hope,"  said  she,  "that  you  don't  mean  to  re 
proach  me,  Tom." 

"  No,"  he  answered,  "  no  thought  could  have  been 
less  in  my  mind.  If  anybody  has  sinned  against 
Jack,  I  am  the  one.  He  has  trusted  me  and  made 
me  his  closest  friend,  and  it  seems  to  me  as  if  he  were 
receiving  a  poor  reward.  In  return  for  his  friendship 
I  have  come  between  him  and  possible  happiness." 

"What  do  you  mean?"  asked  Margaret,  her  eyes 
flashing.  "  Does  Jack  think  he  has  a  claim  upon 
me?" 

"  No,"  said  Tarbell,  "  I  would  not  call  it  a  claim. 
He  loves  you,  Margaret,  but  that  is  hardly  a  claim." 

"  And  you  have  come  to  speak  for  him  ?  " 

"  No,"  he  answered ;  "  I  came  both  because  you 
asked  me  and  because  I  hoped  we  could  plan  some 

260 


THE  POINT  OF  HONOUR 

way  to  spare  him  a  humiliation  such  as  no  man  should 
be  made  to  suffer.  He  has  borne  enough ;  I  cannot 
see  him  suffer  any  more." 

"  Do  you  think  that  Jack  needs  a  champion  to  de 
fend  him  against  me,  or  that  I  would  willingly  hurt 
him?  I  am  fond  of  Jack,  but  not  in  a  way  that 
would  make  me  think  of  marrying  him  if  he  were 
the  only  man  left." 

While  Margaret  was  speaking,  Tarbell,  in  obedi 
ence  to  her  gesture,  had  dropped  into  a  chair  facing 
hers.  He  made  no  reply  to  her  question,  but,  resting 
his  elbows  on  his  knees,  fell  to  touching  his  finger 
tips  lightly  one  against  another,  in  an  absent  sort  of 
way.  A  lamp's  deep  glow  lit  his  face,  and  there 
Margaret  saw  an  expression  melancholy  and  wistful, 
as  if  some  memory  had  struggled  to  the  surface  to 
make  itself  incomprehensibly  visible,  as  dreams  some 
times  are  on  the  faces  of  sleepers  who  cannot  tell 
them  when  they  wake.  Margaret,  with  her  chin  in 
her  hand,  sat  watching  him,  fascinated  by  his  power. 
Presently,  in  an  altered  tone,  as  if  the  transparent 
truthfulness  of  TarbelTs  nature  had  compelled  her  to 
search  her  own  conscience,  she  said :  "  I  am  afraid, 
Tom,  I  might  have  saved  Jack  from  making  any 
mistake  if  I  had  acted  wisely  at  the  beginning. 
He  seemed  to  me  only  a  charming  boy,  and  it  was 
cruel  of  me  to  let  him  go  so  far,  after  I  began  to  see 
that  he  was  misconstruing  my  liking  into  something 
warmer  than  friendship.  Of  course,  he  never  told 
you  about  the  gypsy's  prediction  and  the  four-leaved 
clover  I  gave  him  as  a  talisman.  I  regretted  that 
silliness  as  soon  as  I  saw  how  seriously  he  took  it. 

261 


BOYS   AND   MEN 

When  I  saw  how  fond  of  me  he  was  growing,  it 
seemed  impossible  to  change  my  manner  without 
wounding  him.  I  hoped,  too,  that  he  would  get  over 
his  fancy  when  I  was  so  long  away.  Poor  Jack !  I 
seem  to  have  been  the  worst  of  his  misfortunes." 

For  an  instant  she  buried  her  face  in  her  arms. 
Hearing  Tarbell  rise,  she  looked  up.  "Margaret," 
he  said,  "I  have  about  decided." 

"  What  are  you  going  to  do  ?  "  she  asked. 

"  I  am  going  to  tell  him ;  it 's  the  only  fair  thing 
to  do." 

"  When  ?  "  demanded  Margaret. 

"Now,  if  I  can  find  him  alone.  Joe  must  have 
gone  out  before  this.  It  is  twenty  minutes  to  nine." 

"  He  is  not  coming  for  me  till  nine,"  she  answered. 
Something  in  Tarbell's  face  almost  frightened  her. 
She  rose,  too,  and  stood  quite  still  before  him,  with 
one  hand  clutching  an  edge  of  the  table.  "  Tom," 
she  said,  "  what  are  you  going  to  tell  Jack  ?  " 

"  I  don't  know,  Margaret,"  he  responded  with  an 
effort;  "  I  must  think  a  little  more,  alone." 

"  Then,"  cried  Margaret,  vehemently,  "  I  can  tell 
you.  Say  that  it  is  useless.  No  regret  for  any  wrong 
that  I  have  done  can  make  me  love  him  ever.  He 
does  not  love  me.  It  is  blind  infatuation  for  him 
even  to  hope.  And  you,"  she  went  on  with  passion, 
—  "  will  he  dare  to  do  you  an  injustice  ?  " 

"  An  injustice  ?  " 

"  Yes,"  she  answered ;  "  if  he  lacks  courage,  he  will 
be  ready  to  lay  the  blame  on  you.  I  do  not  know  it, 
but  I  fear  he  will.  Do  you  expect  him  to  give  up 
his  delusion  generously?  If  he  is  blind  enough  to 

262 


THE  POINT  OF  HONOUR 

cling  to  it  in  spite  of  all  that  I  have  done  to  undeceive 
him,  why  should  he  not  be  blind  enough  to  ask  some 
sacrifice  of  you  ?  " 

Tarbell  did  not  reply,  but  dropped  into  a  chair, 
bewildered.  For  an  instant  he  felt  a  temptation  to 
sacrifice  anything  except  his  own  happiness;  but, 
after  all,  happiness  gained  in  such  a  way  would  be 
only  the  egotist's  name  for  misery.  Margaret  had 
used  the  word  "  infatuation,"  and  he  longed  to  agree  ; 
yet  might  she  not  be  giving  some  other  kind  of  love 
than  his  own  a  name  to  ease  her  conscience  ?  Some 
instinct  bade  him  follow  her,  right  or  wrong;  but 
stronger  still  were  the  promptings  of  a  justice  that 
might  wound  but  could  not  stain. 

In  the  midst  of  his  distressful  revery  he  heard 
Margaret  speak  his  name,  and  looking  up,  he  saw  in 
her  face  no  longer  the  expression  of  injured  pride,  but 
something  wonderfully  mournful  and  tender,  as  if  she 
had  at  last  read  to  the  bottom  of  his  heart.  It  was  a 
look  of  great  compassion,  disdaining  pity,  ennobling 
both  to  her  and  to  him.  She  seated  herself  near  and 
rested  her  fingers  on  his  arm.  "  My  dear  Tom,"  she 
said,  "how  much  I  have  made  you  bear!  and  yet 
you  know  the  reason ;  there  is  only  one,  —  I  love  you. 
Do  what  you  think  is  right,  and  that  will  be  right  to 
me.  Go,  Tom,"  she  went  on,  her  voice  trembling* 
and  scarcely  audible,  "  it  is  almost  nine ;  Joe  will 
soon  be  here,  and  I  must  pull  myself  together  before 
I  meet  him." 

Tarbell  and  Margaret  rose  and  walked  silently  to 
the  door.  The  clock  was  ticking  loudly,  as  the  large 
pointer  jogged  persistently  toward  the  hour.  There 

263 


BOYS  AND   MEN 

rose  to  their  ears  a  murmur  of  confused  voices  and 
ripples  of  laughter,  but  there  was  no  profaning  eye 
to  witness  the  parting,  no  ear  to  catch  the  quiet 
"  Good-night." 

On  leaving  Margaret,  Tarbell,  to  avoid  the  crowd 
in  the  hall-way  of  the  hotel,  went  out  by  a  side 
door  to  the  street.  It  was  a  warm  night,  dimly  illu 
minated  by  the  lights  of  the  city  and  a  multitude  of 
stars.  Still  uncertain  as  to  what  would  be  the  wisest 
course  to  pursue,  and  wishing  to  put  himself  into  a 
calmer  frame  of  mind,  Tarbell  did  not  immediately 
return  to  his  college  rooms,  but  entered  a  street  in  an 
old-fashioned  part  of  the  town,  where  he  found  him 
self  almost  alone.  Having  stopped  a  second  to  light 
his  pipe,  he  walked,  without  heeding  the  direction, 
until  it  burned  out.  Again  he  filled  it,  and  turning 
into  another  street,  began  to  quicken  his  steps.  Pres 
ently  he  halted  beneath  a  lamp  and  looked  at  his 
watch.  It  was  twenty  minutes  past  nine.  By  going 
slowly  he  would  reach  the  Quadrangle  at  ten.  Then 
he  felt  sure  not  only  of  finding  Jack  in  his  room,  but 
that  the  others  would  have  gone  to  the  ball.  During 
the  few  moments  which  remained  before  his  interview 
with  Eldredge,  Tarbell  knew  that  he  must  find  in 
himself  alone  the  guiding  counsel.  One  word  ill- 
chosen,  or  the  right  word  spoken  at  the  wrong  instant 
would  suffice  to  bring  on  the  catastrophe  which  he 
was  determined  to  avert.  Yet  what  could  he  know  ? 
All  his  comradeship  with  Eldredge  could  furnish  but 
the  slimmest  clews  to  the  solution  of  this  puzzle. 
That  his  happiness  was  a  link  in  the  chain  which  he 

264 


THE  POINT   OF  HONOUR 

and  Margaret  and  Jack  had  welded  was  to  Tarbell 
perfectly  clear;  and  to  that  happiness  had  he  no 
right  ?  Was  it  unfair  for  him  to  make  what  Nature 
had  given  him  his  own  ? 

As  he  climbed  the  stairs  which  led  to  Eldredge's 
room,  Tarbell  experienced  a  revolt  against  his  own 
persistent  endeavour  to  reach  by  logic  a  conclusion 
fatal  to  the  nobler  impulses  that  kept  welling  up 
within  him.  Hesitating  then  no  longer,  he  went  to 
his  friend's  door  and  knocked. 

"  Come  in,"  said  Jack.  "  Oh,  Tarb,  it 's  you !  I 
was  wondering  where  you  had  gone."  He  got  no 
further,  for,  spying  suddenly  the  gloom  of  Tarbell's 
face,  he  stood  with  half-parted  lips,  suspicious  of  some 
ill.  Like  a  sensitive  needle  quivering  before  the 
storm,  Jack's  emotions  became  visible  in  a  second. 
His  face  darkened,  and  he  stood  motionless,  waiting 
for  Tarbell  to  speak.  Softly  closing  the  door,  Tarbell 
went  straight  to  Eldredge  and  laid  both  hands  upon 
his  shoulders.  For  an  instant  they  remained  stock 
still,  staring  into  each  other's  souls,  conscious  that  the 
cardinal  moment  of  their  lives  had  come. 

"  Jack,"  said  Tarbell,  "  I  have  been  to  see  Margaret 
and  that  is  why  I  am  here." 

"Did  she  send  you?" 

"  No,  I  came  of  my  own  free  will." 

"  Oh !  I  understand,"  said  Eldredge,  turning  ashen 
gray.  "  You  love  her.'* 

"  Yes,"  replied  Tarbell,  with  terrible  agitation,  "  I 
love  her."  He  dropped  his  hands  from  Eldredge's 
shoulders.  Sure  as  Jack  had  been  of  some  evil  tidings, 
Tarbell's  utterance  sent  the  blood  into  his  face.  His 

265 


BOYS   AND   MEN 

lips  became  suddenly  parched,  his  throat  contracted 
and  dry.  For  a  moment  there  came  to  him  the  im 
pulse  to  say  something  utterly  ignoble,  but,  half 
maddened  though  he  was,  the  deeper  fineness  of  his 
nature  restrained  him  and  he  gave  his  thought  no 
tongue. 

"  Jack,"  said  Tarbell,  "  there  was  no  help  for  what 
has  happened  to  you  and  me.  My  dear  fellow,  it 
seems  as  if  some  fatality  has  been  pursuing  us.  My 
life  is  bound  up  in  yours  —  has  been  so  almost  since 
the  day  we  struck  our  partnership  nearly  four  years 
ago.  That  I  should  have  added  one  drop  to  your 
bitterness  is  something  I  hate  to  think,  but  it 's  true 
—  true  as  we  're  standing  here.  Now  what  are  we 
going  to  do  ?  " 

"  Only  justice,"  said  Eldredge.  "  I  do  not  ask  you 
to  make  a  sacrifice  for  me."  He  spoke  feverishly, 
and  there  was  something  rasping  in  his  tone  which 
cut  Tarbell  like  a  rough-edged  knife.  But  in  the 
great  charity  of  his  heart  he  bore  the  cruelly  sugges 
tive  words  as  a  man  who  is  dealing  with  a  boy. 
"  Do  you  mean  to  imply,"  burst  out  Eldredge,  "  that 
Margaret  has  never  cared  for  me,  or  am  I  to  believe 
that  she  has  changed  in  a  single  year,  as  if  it  made 
no  difference  whether  she  trod  upon  my  life  ?  Damn 
it !  Have  I  no  right  to  happiness  ?  " 

"  Jack,  Jack !  I  beg  you  not  to  speak  rashly. 
Think,  man,  think  what  you're  saying  before  you 
condemn.  If  it  were  impossible  to  err,  you  would 
have  no  need  of  pardoning  either  her  or  me,  but  it 's 
only  justice  for  you  to  look  facts  squarely  in  the  face. 
Margaret  does  not  love  you." 

266 


THE  POINT   OF  HONOUR 

"  You  know  it,"  said  Eldredge  ;  "  I  ask  you  how  ?  " 
44  Because  she  told  me  so  hardly  an  hour  ago." 
To  this  Eldredge  made  no  reply,  but  threw  himself 
into  a  chair  and  stared  at  Tarbell  with  a  look  of  des 
peration.  And  in  that  look  was  an  expression  of 
such  utter  loneliness  that  Tarbell's  heart  was  torn 
with  responsive  anguish.  He  thought  of  their  early 
days  together,  of  Jack's  ready  affection  and  cheery 
helpfulness  when  times  went  ill.  They  had  been 
brothers,  not  by  the  chance  of  blood,  but  in  a  surer, 
better  way.  And  as  he  entered  deeper  into  their  com 
mon  past,  there  came  to  his  mind  their  journeys  to 
The  Oaks,  and  gentle  Mrs.  Eldredge,  who  had  made 
him  her  son.  In  the  days  when  disaster  pressed 
upon  him,  threatening  to  thwart  the  ambitions  which 
he  had  striven  so  long  to  attain,  the  Eldredges  had 
come  to  his  aid  simply,  with  no  possible  thought  of 
gain.  Through  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Eldredge,  who  had  liked 
him  at  first  as  Jack's  friend  but  later  had  come  to 
esteem  him  for  his  own  sake,  he  had  succeeded. 
They  were  dead,  and  the  debt  was  still  unpaid. 
Like  ghosts  rising  to  warn  him,  the  memories  came 
thronging,  —  visions  born  in  his  brain  to  be  his  hon 
our's  guardians.  If  the  debt  was  to  be  annulled, 
whom  could  he  repay  but  their  heir,  his  friend  Jack 
Eldredge  ?  And  how  would  gratitude  deferred  be 
different  from  ingratitude  ?  But  if  he  followed  such 
logic  to  the  bitter  end,  by  what  means  could  he  avoid 
an  act  of  intolerable  cowardice  ?  To  Margaret  he 
had  given  a  pledge  which  involved  not  only  her 
happiness  but  his  honour.  Whichever  way  he  turned, 
there  rose  in  his  path  an  insurmountable  barrier.  In 

267 


BOYS  AND   MEN 

speechless  bewilderment  he  began  to  pace  the  room, 
and  Eldredge,  forgetful  of  any  agony  but  his  own, 
followed  him  with  restless  eyes,  expectant,  almost 
hoping  that  in  another  instant  Tarbell  would  utter 
words  of  self -damnation.  Indeed,  he  trusted  in 
Tarbell's  very  loftiness  of  soul  to  give  him  what  he 
believed  was  his  by  right.  Strangest  of  all,  Eldredge 
clung  stubbornly  to  the  delusion  that  Margaret  loved 
him  even  though  another  had  won  her. 

Meanwhile  Tarbell  continued  walking  to  and  fro, 
absorbed  in  the  desire  to  find  some  solution  which 
would  enable  him  to  save  his  honour  without  wreck 
ing  his  happiness.  In  vain  he  struggled  to  persuade 
himself  that  Margaret  might  not  know  her  own  heart. 
His  knowledge  of  her,  gained  at  critical  moments, 
and  a  feeling  impossible  to  define  forced  him  to  a 
contrary  opinion.  And  the  consciousness  of  her  love 
uplifted  him  now,  giving  him  strength  for  stoic 
resolve,  —  even  such  strength  as  he  needed  to  hazard 
his  own  happiness  for  the  sake  of  his  friend.  Beneath 
the  fascination  which  Eldredge  felt,  Tarbell  had  dis 
cerned  the  deep  loveliness  of  Margaret's  nature,  and 
her  yielding  to  the  temptation  to  make  use  of  her 
power  had  seemed  to  him  so  natural  as  to  require 
no  pardon. 

In  the  stress  and  turmoil  of  his  heart  there  flashed 
into  his  mind  a  saving  thought.  He  turned  for  an 
instant  toward  Eldredge.  "  Jack,"  he  said,  "  there 
is  just  one  way  to  settle  this.  As  soon  as  our  work 
here  is  done,  I  am  going  back  to  Arizona." 

"  What !  "  exclaimed  Eldredge.  "  No,  Tarb,  I  '11 
never  consent  to  that  —  never.  I  cannot  let  you 

268 


THE  POINT  OF  HONOUR 

ruin  your  life  for  me."  He  rose  with  flushed  cheeks 
and  tears  in  his  eyes,  but  his  face  was  no  longer  tense 
with  disappointment  and  galling  fear.  If  Tarbell 
had  been  less  moved,  he  might  have  caught  the  ray 
of  pleasure  with  which  Jack  received  his  renuncia 
tion.  Yet  he  did  not  fail  to  perceive  in  Eldredge's 
words  a  false  ring  which  caused  him  a  certain  glad 
ness,  for  in  that  sign  he  recognized  the  fulness  of  his 
friend's  delusion. 

"  Jack,"  he  said,  "  I  'm  not  ruining  my  life,  but 
simply  giving  you  the  chance  to  better  yours.  Never 
mind  me.  Each  of  us  has  the  right  to  do  for  himself 
the  best  he  can.  I  '11  go  my  way.  Never  think 
hard  of  me.  You  and  I  have  been  partners  from  the 
start,  and,  by  Heaven,  the  firm  sha'n't  go  into  bank 
ruptcy  now  !  "  He  clapped  Eldredge  on  the  shoulder 
and  looked  him  squarely  in  the  face.  "  My  dear 
boy,"  he  said,  "if  there's  one  thing  I  earnestly 
desire,  it 's  your  welfare  !  and  I  am  going  to  take  the 
only  way  I  can  think  of  to  prove  it." 

"But,  Tarb,"  said  Eldredge,  "I  need  you  here. 
You  know  my  father's  wish.  He  told  me  again  and 
again  that  you  could  work  your  way  to  a  high  place 
in  the  Company.  What  is  there  for  you  in  Arizona  ? 
You  can't  make  your  fortune  on  a  desert." 

"  Jack,"  answered  Tarbell,  "  don't  ask  me  to  turn 
my  back  on  good  resolutions.  If  you  believe  in  the 
bottom  of  your  soul  that  I  have  n't  acted  like  I  ought 
to,  I  want  you  to  tell  me.  One  of  us  is  wrong,  but 
we  're  going  to  be  older,  and  one  of  these  days  we  '11 
find  out  whether  it  was  you  or  I." 

"  Tarb,"  cried  Jack,  impulsively,  "  I  beg  you  not 
269 


BOYS  AND   MEN 

to  think  that  way.  You  and  I  have  always  dealt 
squarely  with  each  other,  and  I  feel  terribly  sorry  that 
you  are  going  away.  Neither  of  us  is  to  blame,  and  I 
have  nothing  to  forgive  you." 

At  this  outburst  Tarbell  was  cut  to  the  quick,  but, 
beyond  a  quivering  of  the  lips,  his  face  gave  no  more 
evidence  of  his  pain  than  if  it  had  been  a  mask. 
The  note  of  self-pity  jarred  him,  but  he  felt  a  com 
pensating  joy  in  the  thought  that  Margaret  had  read 
Jack  truly.  He  saw,  too,  with  sudden  clearness  of 
vision,  that  the  misfortunes  which  Jack  had  suffered 
had  not  been  such  as  to  purge  away  the  dross  of  ego 
tism.  The  generosity  which  involves  self-sacrifice  he 
had  still  to  learn.  Knowing  Jack's  limitations,  Tar- 
bell  had  hardly  looked  for  magnanimity,  and  his  wide 
experience  of  men  strengthened  his  belief  in  the  sav 
ing  power  of  time.  Hence  he  faced  the  situation  with 
dignity,  charity,  and  courage.  Tarbell  had  looked 
deep  enough  into  life  to  know  how  shallow  is  the 
wisdom  which  judges  a  man  either  by  the  best  or  the 
worst  that  he  can  do.  In  his  eyes  Eldredge  was  still 
the  friend  who  had  helped  him,  his  comrade  and 
"  brother." 

"  Well,  Jack,"  he  said,  as  he  turned  to  go,  "  you 
and  I  have  been  a  good  while  in  the  dark,  but,  thank 
God,  we  're  once  more  out  in  the  light.  Let 's  stay 
there  till  the  end  of  our  lives."  He  paused  for  an 
instant,  and  his  lips  trembled.  "  Good-night,  part 
ner,"  he  said.  "  I  '11  see  you  to-morrow." 

Without  another  word  Tarbell  left  the  room. 
Crossing  the  hall,  he  shut  and  locked  his  door 
against  intruders.  He  struck  no  light,  but  went 

270 


THE  POINT   OF  HONOUR 

straight  to  the  open  window,  and  looked  out  across 
the  Quadrangle  to  a  building  which  glowed  in  the 
blue  darkness.  Through  the  still  air  there  came 
soothingly  to  his  ears  faint  music. 

For  a  long  while  he  stood  there  in  a  sort  of  leth 
argy,  his  almost  only  sensation  being  one  of  profound 
relief.  So  pleasant  was  this  feeling  that  he  made  no 
effort  to  recall  the  phases  of  the  recent  ordeal,  but 
allowed  his  mind  to  wander  vaguely  over  incoherent 
happenings  of  his  college  life.  Presently  the  clock 
chimed,  and  he  noticed  for  the  first  time  that  it  was 
out  of  tune.  Then  he  began  to  count  the  strokes, 
and,  not  being  sure  whether  it  was  eleven  or  midnight, 
lighted  the  gas,  and  looked  at  his  watch.  About  two 
hours  had  passed  since  he  had  set  forth  on  his  errand. 
They  seemed  an  indefinite  time.  It  was  true  that 
within  those  two  hours  he  had  lived  a  considerable 
portion  of  his  life,^and  that  each  minute  had  been 
exceedingly  unhappy.  Yet  somehow  he  felt  a  tran 
quillity  of  soul  such  as  he  had  not  known  in  months, 
and  he  looked  forward  to  whatever  might  come  with 
abundant  courage.  And  courage  he  needed,  for  the 
burden  still  rested  on  his  shoulders,  but  he  did  not 
flinch  at  the  hazard  of  his  fortunes. 

At  the  conclusion  of  his  second  summer  of  railroad 
ing  Tarbell  had  paid  off  the  last  penny  of  his  debt, 
and  there  even  remained  a  small  sum  to  his  credit. 
In  addition,  he  had  most  of  the  money  which  Mr. 
Eldredge  had  given  for  his  real  estate,  and  upon  this 
capital  he  relied  to  tide  him  over  to  better  times. 
His  single  troublesome  thought  was  how  he  should 
justify  his  exile  to  Margaret.  Having  pondered  for  a 

271 


BOYS  AND   MEN 

long  time,  he  determined  that  absolute  consistency 
with  his  resolution,  and  faith  to  Eldredge  left  him 
but  one  way.  With  this  determination,  he  sat  down 
at  his  desk  and  wrote  to  Margaret,  endeavouring  to 
word  his  letter  in  such  a  way  as  to  avoid  any  biassing 
emotion. 

DEAR  MARGARET,  —  I  have  talked  with  Jack,  but  I 
fear  there  is  only  one  way  to  persuade  him.  For  his 
sake  as  well  as  mine,  do  all  you  can  to  open  his  eyes 
and  set  him  right.  I  am  sorry  this  task  must  fall  to  you 
and  that  I  can  do  nothing  more  to  help.  I  have  decided 
to  leave  to-morrow  for  Arizona.  You  must  forgive  my 
not  coming  to  tell  you  all  that  happened.  I  would  give 
the  world  to  see  you  before  I  leave,  but  I  have  deter 
mined  that  Jack  shall  not  have  further  reason  for  believ 
ing  me  disloyal.  Be  kind  to  him,  and  help  him  to  get 
some  more  of  the  good  sense  which  a  man  needs  to  live 
fairly  with  his  friends.  I  cannot  tell  you  now  where  I 
am  going  to  be,  but  my  old  address  will  do.  Good-bye, 
sweetheart.  I  sha'n't  give  you  a  chance  to  forget  me. 
Be  good  to  Jack.  He  has  suffered  a  great  deal,  and  we 
must  overlook  his  faults  for  the  sake  of  old  memories. 

Your  ever  faithful  TOM. 

Having  posted  this  letter,  Tarbell  returned  to  his 
rooms  and  fell  to  the  task  of  packing.  It  was  a 
gloomy  undertaking.  Amongst  these  relics  he  had 
dwelt  for  four  years,  living  joyfully  his  belated  boy 
hood.  How  many  bygone  scenes  flashed  back  to  his 
mind  as  he  laid  away  the  treasures  of  his  college  life ! 
Moleskin  trousers  patched  and  stained,  torn  sweaters, 
and  other  shabby  gear,  society  emblems,  a  pewter 
toby  scratched  with  the  names  of  good  companions, 

272 


THE  POINT  OF  HONOUR 

old  text-books,  and  a  hundred  other  things.  To  him 
the  meanest  of  them  seemed  to  have  a  soul.  They, 
too,  were  his  friends,  and  he  would  have  been  as  loath 
to  cast  them  aside  as  a  man  would  be  to  discard  some 
crony  who  had  grown  seedy  from  hard  trials  or  old 
age. 

When  Tarbell  had  finished  his  labours,  he  lit  his 
pipe,  and  sat  for  a  while  on  the  window-seat,  think 
ing.  Across  the  Campus  he  could  see  the  gleam  of 
many  burners  and  catch  the  strains  of  music  dulled 
by  rumbling  carriages.  He  recalled  his  apprentice 
ship  in  the  world  of  fashion,  and  there  passed  over  his 
face  the  glimmer  of  a  smile.  Once  more  the  clock 
chimed,  and  this  time  he  made  no  mistake  in  count 
ing,  for  it  struck  but  two. 


is  273 


XXXI 

REPARATION 

ON  the  following  day  Tarbell  was  present  at 
the  last  function  of  his  college  life.  Hardly 
had  he  received  his  degree  when  he  bade  good-bye 
to  his  classmates  and  disappeared.  Margaret  had 
not  seen  him,  nor  had  he  caught  a  glimpse  of  her, 
but  he  knew  that  she  must  have  been  somewhere 
amongst  the  throng,  and  he  wondered  whether  she 
could  already  know.  Margaret  had  gone  to  the 
Senior  Promenade,  not  merely  to  gratify  her  brother, 
but  also  because  she  feared  to  stir  his  suspicions,  for 
he  would  not  have  failed  to  press  her  for  an  explana 
tion  had  he  imagined  that  anything  was  wrong. 
Once,  when  his  turn  came  to  dance  with  her  he 
asked  why  she  kept  so  quiet. 

"  Do  I  seem  unusually  quiet,  Joe  ? "  returned 
Margaret,  with  a  certain  air  of  wonder,  and  by  an 
adroit  digression  she  guided  him  into  another  chan 
nel.  Despite  her  outward  composure,  Margaret  was 
heart-sick  and  eager  to  be  rid  of  it  all  —  to  be  alone, 
free  to  think  her  thoughts  to  the  end.  As  it  was, 
she  needed  all  the  power  of  her  will  to  find  answers 
even  to  the  conversation  of  a  ballroom. 

On  returning  to  the  hotel,  Margaret  could  hardly 
resist  the  temptation  to  inquire  for  letters,  being 
anxious  to  learn  how  Tarbell  had  carried  out  his 

274 


REPARATION 

resolution,  but  was  restrained  by  the  presence  of  her 
brother.  So  she  bade  him  good-night  and  went  to 
her  room  in  a  most  unhappy  mood.  It  was  not  until 
nine  o'clock  the  next  morning  that  she  received 
Tarbell's  letter.  Her  first  feeling  was  one  of  indig 
nation  and  anger.  Had  Eldredge  appeared  at  that 
instant,  his  shrift  would  have  been  short  indeed,  but 
Margaret  read  the  letter  again  and  again,  until  finally 
the  stalwart  nobility  of  Tarbell's  renunciation  lifted 
her  to  a  broader  consideration.  Nor  was  Margaret 
so  sure  of  her  conscience  that  she  could  give  way 
to  the  passionate  resentment  aroused  in  her  by  the 
thought  that  Jack  had  driven  Tarbell  into  the  desert 
in  order  that  he  might  coddle  his  pet  delusion. 

When  Eldredge  called  at  the  hotel,  on  the  after 
noon  of  Commencement  Day,  he  found  that  the 
Glenns  had  gone,  leaving  Joe  to  dispose  of  his  nu 
merous  belongings  and  follow  at  leisure.  After  a 
few  futile  attempts  to  write  a  satisfactory  letter,  he 
made  up  his  mind  to  await  an  opportunity  for  an 
interview,  thinking  that  as  the  Glenns  were  to  open 
their  summer  home,  it  would  not  be  long  in  coming. 
But  those  first  weeks  of  Tarbell's  exile  were  so 
bitter  to  Margaret,  and  the  effort  to  conceal  his  own 
struggle  was  so  manifest  in  Tarbell's  letters,  that 
Margaret  peremptorily  negatived  her  brother's  sug 
gestion  of  inviting  Jack  for  a  visit.  To  be  kind  to 
him  would  have  been  an  impossibility  in  her  present 
mood.  But  more  and  more,  as  Margaret  grew  to 
realize  the  largeness  of  Tarbell's  nature,  she  strove 
to  soften  her  displeasure,  knowing  that  she  must  be 
prepared  not  only  to  disabuse  Jack's  mind  concerning 

275 


BOYS  AND   MEN 

herself,  but  to  show  him  how  unworthily  he  had  acted 
toward  Tarbell.  How  to  achieve  this  generously  be 
came  her  ruling  idea.  At  a  house  party  given  in  the 
late  autumn  by  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Billy  James  the  op 
portunity  came,  and  found  Margaret  fully  prepared. 

On  their  first  meeting  Jack  saw,  although  he  did 
not  comprehend,  the  change  which  a  few  months  had 
made.  Her  beauty  dazzled  him  still,  nor  was  there 
any  decrease  in  her  charm,  but  she  seemed  years 
older,  infinitely  more  serious,  and  held  him  almost 
in  awe.  Nevertheless,  possessed  by  his  old  idea,  he 
sought  an  interview,  which  sufficed  to  open  his  eyes 
and  bring  his  stock  of  self-esteem  to  the  verge  of 
bankruptcy.  Then  a  letter  from  Tarbell  to  Joseph 
Glenn,  inquiring  in  the  old  hearty  way  what  Jack 
had  been  doing  since  graduation,  completed  Jack's 
conviction  of  his  own  injustice.  For  the  first  time 
he  realized  the  difference  between  the  giving  of  gifts 
and  the  giving  of  one's  self.  Making  the  best  excuse 
he  could  devise,  he  departed ;  every  generous  impulse 
in  his  awakened  soul  demanding  that  he  make  imme 
diate  reparation. 

The  first  available  train  found  Eldredge  on  his 
way  to  Arizona.  The  journey  was  intolerably  long, 
but  in  the  dragging  hours  of  day  and  night  he  had 
time  to  rear  some  new  ideals  ;  to  view  life  from  a 
higher,  less  personal  plane.  Incidents  long  forgotten 
came  back  to  his  mind,  —  his  meeting  with  Tarbell 
and  the  mere  chance  which  had  brought  about  their 
friendship ;  how  that  friendship  had  grown  and  stood 
like  a  rock  smitten  but  not  shattered  by  the  storm. 
How  often,  too,  Tarbell  had  held  him  back  when 

276 


REPARATION 

lie  "had  been  on  the  brink  of  some  boyish  folly !  He 
realized  now  the  worth  of  TarbelTs  friendship,  and 
fell  to  wondering  why  he  had  never  before  taken  a 
full  measure  of  the  man.  Yet  it  was  not  so  strange, 
since  he  had  but  recently  come  to  see  himself ;  for  it 
happens  sometimes  that  we  go  a  good  piece  of  life's 
road  without  stopping  to  consider  that  hidden  bundle 
of  faults  and  virtues  which  we  call  soul. 

Eldredge  arrived  at  last  at  Tucson  only  to  find 
that  Tarbell  had  left  for  Phoenix  the  week  before, 
to  enter  somebody's  law  office,  the  postmaster  said, 
vouchsafing  that  Tucson  was  a  better  place  for  the 
study  of  law.  Jack  did  not  venture  his  opinion  that 
neither  was  a  promising  field  for  that  profession,  but 
posted  back  to  the  railway  station  to  catch  the  first 
train  for  Phoenix.  After  a  dreary  wait  of  some 
hours,  he  was  again  on  the  way.  Nothing  could  have 
been  less  cheering  than  the  stretch  of  country  be 
tween  Tucson  and  Phoenix.  As  Jack  looked  out 
upon  the  blighted  land,  where  there  was  no  sign  of 
verdure,  nothing  but  stunted  brush  and  burning 
rock,  he  could  but  wonder  that  Tarbell  had  chosen 
this  for  a  land  of  exile.  Had  he  thought  deeper, 
he  could  not  have  failed  to  know  the  reason. 

When  the  train  arrived  in  Phoenix  about  seven 
o'clock,  Eldredge  went  immediately  to  the  most 
promising  hotel  and  inquired  for  Tarbell. 

"Tarbell?"  said  the  clerk;  "why,  certainly. 
He's  here." 

"  Where  ? "  asked  Jack,  with  his  heart  in  his 
throat. 

277 


BOYS  AND   MEN 

At  that  instant  he  felt  on  his  shoulder  the  pressure 
of  a  hand.  He  turned  with  a  start  and  stood  face 
to  face  with  Tarbell.  "Jack,"  said  he,  "you've 
found  your  man." 

Eldredge  seized  him  by  the  hand.  His  lips 
trembled,  and  he  seemed  hardly  able  to  speak. 
Instinctively  the  two  moved  away  from  the  crowd. 
"  Tarb,"  said  Jack,  breaking  the  silence,  "  I  Ve  come 
to  take  you  home." 


278 


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